This volume is centred around the idea that the aim of literature is to build bridges, to bring people together, and to highlight underlying similarities despite the apparent differences in world literatures. As such, the book focuses on the moral purpose of literature and its tendency to overcome divisive forces. It supports the idea of cosmopolitanism, a re-working of the ancient Indian ideal of Vasudhaiva Kuttumbakam, or 'the world is my home', a concept close to the African notion of 'ubuntu', which refers to an open society (as against a small, enclosed one) and relates to the essence of
