Embodied Cosmopolitanism and the British Romantic Woman Writer

When can the term “cosmopolitan” legitimately be applied to political theories or literary texts? After surveying recent theoretical discussions of cosmopolitanism in the fields of political science, philosophy and literary studies, this essay argues for a more restrictive definition of cosmopolitanism, one that found expression in the writings of Romantic‐era British women. To explore the theoretical implications of what I am calling an “embodied cosmopolitanism,” I turn to a detailed analysis of Marianna Starke's play, The Widow of Malabar. Together with Elizabeth Inchbald's Such Things Are, Hannah Cowley's A Day in Turkey, and Charlotte Smith's late novels, these texts suggest provocative new ways to give substance to Kant's demand for global “cosmopolitan rights.”