Is it possible to be a citizen of the world? Cosmopolitan thought has been at the center of recent debates surrounding human rights, legal obligations, international relations and political responsibility. Most of these debates trace their origins to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth Century or to the teaching of Greek and Roman philosophers. Medieval literary fictions and travel accounts provide us with rich contextualizations of the complexities and contradictions of cosmopolitan thought. This collection of essays uncovers a wide array of medieval writings on cosmopolitan ethics and politics, writings generally ignored or glossed over in contemporary discourse.

""Medievalism and Orientalism" offers a glimpse into the history and role of the post-renaissance creation of the Middle Ages in the formulation of England's idea of itself. Ganim looks beyond academic medievalism into the fields of anthropology, popular culture, international expositions, gothic architecture, antiquarianism, gender studies, politics, religion, language, and race in this fascinating study of East-West relations that has never been more relevant or significant than at present."--R. Howard Bloch, Augustus R. Street Professor of French, Yale University"In an academic career that practically defines the word 'distinguished, ' John Ganim has repeatedly shown us new ways of approaching the Middle Ages and the 'medieval.' He continues this important work in his newest book, where he analyzes 'this hybrid identity, the twinned association of medievalism and Orientalism.' He invites and helps us to see how vexed, and vexatious, the categories of our 'historicisms' are as we try to identify the objects of our study, which change even as we ourselves change, not only over time but also through space, especially the unstable and ever troubled space 'between' East and West."--R. Allen Shoaf, Senior Editor, "Exemplaria""In these remarkable essays, John Ganim performs a virtuoso act of untangling the intricate web of cultural influences, anxieties, and agendas that have shaped the complex and mutually influential traditions of both medievalism and orientalism. In a radical yet subtle approach to cultural history, Ganim analyzes the afterlife of the Middle Ages through three distinctive and telling formations-as genre, as genealogy, and as display-showing exactly how, and why, the pastbecame 'another country' for European tradition. His range is extraordinarily wide, but every page is marked by insight and revelation, and an exactitude of criticism and analysis that is often breathtaking. This book shifts the discussion of medievalism onto another plane."-Stephanie Trigg, Associate Professor of English, University of Melbourne"John Ganim is one of the few scholars who see that orientalism is a tortuous form of self-recognition. His new book is timely and state-of-the-art: interdisciplinary, transhistorical, cross-cultural, engaging with literature, historiography, aesthetics, and architecture, with work in all periods between the medieval and now, and with much major scholarship in the various fields. It is also lucid, engaged, and intriguing--a book to be read for serious pleasure."--David A. Lawton, Professor and Chair of English and Professor of Religious Studies, Washington University

This collection of essays uncovers a wide array of medieval writings on cosmopolitan ethics and politics, writings generally ignored or glossed over in contemporary discourse. Medieval literary fictions and travel accounts provide us with rich contextualizations of the complexities and contradictions of cosmopolitan thought.

""Medievalism and Orientalism" offers a glimpse into the history and role of the post-renaissance creation of the Middle Ages in the formulation of England's idea of itself. Ganim looks beyond academic medievalism into the fields of anthropology, popular culture, international expositions, gothic architecture, antiquarianism, gender studies, politics, religion, language, and race in this fascinating study of East-West relations that has never been more relevant or significant than at present."--R. Howard Bloch, Augustus R. Street Professor of French, Yale University"In an academic career that practically defines the word 'distinguished, ' John Ganim has repeatedly shown us new ways of approaching the Middle Ages and the 'medieval.' He continues this important work in his newest book, where he analyzes 'this hybrid identity, the twinned association of medievalism and Orientalism.' He invites and helps us to see how vexed, and vexatious, the categories of our 'historicisms' are as we try to identify the objects of our study, which change even as we ourselves change, not only over time but also through space, especially the unstable and ever troubled space 'between' East and West."--R. Allen Shoaf, Senior Editor, "Exemplaria""In these remarkable essays, John Ganim performs a virtuoso act of untangling the intricate web of cultural influences, anxieties, and agendas that have shaped the complex and mutually influential traditions of both medievalism and orientalism. In a radical yet subtle approach to cultural history, Ganim analyzes the afterlife of the Middle Ages through three distinctive and telling formations-as genre, as genealogy, and as display-showing exactly how, and why, the pastbecame 'another country' for European tradition. His range is extraordinarily wide, but every page is marked by insight and revelation, and an exactitude of criticism and analysis that is often breathtaking. This book shifts the discussion of medievalism onto another plane."-Stephanie Trigg, Associate Professor of English, University of Melbourne"John Ganim is one of the few scholars who see that orientalism is a tortuous form of self-recognition. His new book is timely and state-of-the-art: interdisciplinary, transhistorical, cross-cultural, engaging with literature, historiography, aesthetics, and architecture, with work in all periods between the medieval and now, and with much major scholarship in the various fields. It is also lucid, engaged, and intriguing--a book to be read for serious pleasure."--David A. Lawton, Professor and Chair of English and Professor of Religious Studies, Washington University