Nothing like this has been attempted before. (...) It might be called a literary Porto Alegre. That implies a beginning, with much fierce argument and discussion to come. But whatever the outcome of ensuing criticisms or objections, The World Republic of Letters — empire more than republic, as Casanova shows — is likely to have the same sort of liberating impact at large as Said's Orientalism, with which it stands comparison.

The New Old World (ed. Verso Books, 2011) - ISBN: 9781844677214