Narrative Glocality and the Cosmoflâneur in Ian McEwan’s Saturday

This chapter focuses on one of the earlier cosmopolitan novels of the twenty-first century, Ian McEwan’s Saturday (2005), and aims to show the engagement with vernacular cosmopolitanism by emphasizing the contrast between the insular vision of the protagonist and the opposite proposition that glocality—the interpenetration of the global and the local—is an integral part of contemporary life and thinking. The chapter thus explores the two newly-suggested concepts in this book, cosmoflâneur and narrative glocality, by pursuing the protagonist, Henry Perowne, along with his act of city-wandering. As a narrative strategy that demonstrates vernacular cosmopolitanism, the protagonist as a focalizer broadens his angle of vision, often beginning with what he experiences first hand, and then drawing in thoughts and convictions beyond the immediate situation.