PEN WORLD VOICES: Cosmopolitanism

I’m slightly punchy after the last six days, but I’m leaving with a huge list of fine books to read.

During his conversation with Umberto Eco on Sunday, Adam Gopnik said about the festival that it celebrates cosmopolitan culture. Cosmopolitan means to be at home in all parts of the earth or in many spheres of interest (American Heritage Dictionary). A Cosmopolite is a ‘citizen of the world’; one who regards or treats the whole world as his country; one who has no national attachments or prejudices. The Oxford English Dictionary says that in the early 19th century Cosmopolite was often contrasted with the word Patriot.