Comparing Political Illusion and Cultural Reality in Scholarly and Fictional Literature: Concepts of Cosmopolitanism and Dreams of Multilingualism in Academic Writing and Twentieth-Century Political Novels
Comparing Political Illusion and Cultural Reality in Scholarly and Fictional Literature: Concepts of Cosmopolitanism and Dreams of Multilingualism in Academic Writing and Twentieth-Century Political Novels

Summary/Abstract: This research therefore urges political, social, cultural, artistic and literary stakeholdersfrom all over the world, and from all strata of society, to contribute to a developmentwhere “illusion” is gradually and progressively replaced with “dream”, “potential”,“goal”, finally “reality”. This author has tried to do his part, for instance firstly by writingthis article in one of his “second languages” (English), secondly by having conducted theresearch that is its basis in altogether seven languages (including foreign literature sources,or passages of the empirical research when the interviewees spontaneously switchedto other languages, as shown earlier for the “Transitional Cosmopolitan”), or thirdly bypresenting the research results at conferences in several “yet other languages” (one ofthem being Russian).Finally, and in answer to the title of this research: having compared the politicalillusion of cosmopolitanism and the cultural reality of multilingualism in scholarly andfictional literature, both sides could benefit from each other, and be enriched as a result:fictional literature, from the complex and thorough conceptualization of academic writing,and scholarly literature, from the sheer audacity and enthusiastic embodiment of cultural,linguistic and educational ideals in their main protagonists. Our empirical research hasshown that those protagonists can step out of the realm of idealized fiction and becomeeveryday reality, which is a professional goal and probably also a private dream that weas educators already work towards and harbor in our souls, in our classrooms and in ourdaily lives...

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