David Mitchells post secular world : Buddhism belief and the urgency of compassion List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements David Mitchells Fictional World: A Chronology Introducing David Mitchells Fictional World Chapter 1: Enter the World Machine: Navigating David Mitchells Narrative Islands Chapter 2: Right yourself as best you may: Voicing Tragedy in David Mitchells Libretti Chapter 3: Looking down times telescope at myself: Reincarnation and Global Futures in David Mitchells Fictional Worlds Chapter 4: What a sick zoo: Escaping the Panopticon in David Mitchells Macronovel Chapter 5: Little things that speak of the big things: Towards a Mandalic Literature Appendix A: David Mitchells UK Book Sales Appendix B: Tibetan Buddhist Mandala Sand Painting Appendix C: Enlarged Mandala Appendix D: Sand Mandala Construction Appendix E: Wake Act 2 Photograph Appendix F: Wheel of Life Mandala Appendix G: An Interview with David Mitchell 2015 Appendix H: An Interview with David Mitchell 2016 David Mitchell: Selected Critical Reading Works Cited Index. Since the publication of Ghostwritten (1999) David Mitchell has rapidly established himself as one of the most inventive and important British novelists of the 21st century. In this landmark study Rose Harris Birtill reveals the extent to which Mitchell has created an interconnected fictional world across the full run of his writing. Covering Mitchells complete fictions from bestselling novels such as Cloud Atlas (2004) The Bone Clocks (2014) and number9dream (2001) to his short stories and his libretti for the operas Sunken Garden and Wake this book examines how Buddhist influences inform the ethical worldview that permeates his writing. Using a comparative theoretical model drawn from the Tibetan mandala to map Mitchells fictional world Harris Birtill positions Mitchell as central to a new generation of post secular writers who re examine the vital role of belief in galvanizing action amidst contemporary ecological political and humanitarian crises. David Mitchells Post Secular World features two substantial new interviews with the author a chronology of his fictions and a selected bibliography of important critical writings on his work. Bloomsbury Publishing