Universality after Universalism

âMesslingâs book makes an essential claim, which is that the end of European universalism is not in fact the end of universality but perhaps its beginning.â
â" Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Foreword

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âThe originality of this essay lies in its use of literary works.â
â" Catherine Mazauric, En attendant Nadeau

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âMarkus Messling has written a witty book, stressing the importance of literature and of literature in French to understand the world we live in. His book bears witness to his in-depth knowledge with literatures in French and provides promising approaches to go beyond the sterile boundaries between French and francophone literatures.â
â" Timo Oberg¶ker, Modern and Contemporary France

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âThe bookâs wide scope makes it a valuable and highly relevant contribution to ongoing debates.â
â" Joseph Hanimann, S¼ddeutsche Zeitung

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âThe literary scholar Markus Messling is interested in the phenomenon of âworldâ and how it is created in literature. The novel is the place where political upheavals are increasingly being negotiated. ⦠In the French authors he reads, Messling discovers topics that paradigmatically illustrate the contemporary zeitgeist in Europe: the dismantling of social services, rage, the loss of ideals, groundlessness, and melancholy.â
â" Susanne Luerweg, Deutschlandfunk Kultur

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âAnalyzing francophone authors, Messling shows how a new concept of world literature has emerged under the sign of postcolonialism. And he introduces us to names that are hardly known in Germany: the Togolese writer Kossi Efoui, the Canadian-Lebanese author Wajdi Mouawad, or the Cameroonian novelist L©onora Miano.â
â" Gregor Dotzauer, Der Tagesspiegel

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âThe number of philologists who can claim to read along the pulse of our time is limited. Markus Messling is one of them.â
â" Florian G¶del, Nilpferdk¶nige

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âMessling writes in a scholarly voice that is elegant and accessible.â
â" Frank Hahn, tell. Magazin f¼r Literatur und Zeitgenossenschaft