Eva-Maria Windberger is a postdoctoral researcher in the field of British literature and culture at the University of Trier. In 2020, she completed a Ph.D. thesis exploring strategies and functions of empowerment in the novels of David Mitchell. She is co-editor (with Ralf Hertel) of the volume Empowering Contemporary Fiction: The Impact of Empowerment in Literary Studies (2021). Her current research project focuses on the performativity of East Asian identities on the British stage.

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

2 A Poetics of Empowerment?

Zooming in on Empowerment: Concepts and Contexts

Empowerment and Literature

3 Empowering Discourse

"All Boundaries Are Conventions": David Mitchell's Literary Playground

Chapters in an Über-book: Understanding Mitchell's Fictional Universe

4 Empowering Characters

From Subjugation to Emancipation: Journeys of Empowerment in Cloud Atlas

Politics, Playground Bullies, Poetry: Empowerment in Black Swan Green

Culture and Genre Clashes: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

5 Empowering Readers

Reader-Response Theory, Empathy, Cognition, and Agency

David Mitchell's Novels and the Role of the Reader

6 Conclusion: Towards a Poetics of Empowerment

Index