The focus of Pandey's Monolingualism and linguistic exhibitionism in fiction is language and literature. By drawing on a variety of theoretical resources from such varied fields as sociolinguistics, postcolonial studies, semiotics, stylistics, cultural and globalization studies and translation studies, Anjali Pandey adopts an interdisciplinary approach to account for ‘the seemingly increasing presence of multilingualism in the domain of English fiction’ (p. 1). Through this approach, the text makes an original contribution to literary sociolinguistics.

Chapter 1 examines the place of languages in the era of post-globalism, illustrating how multilingualism is represented, reproduced and transformed in 21st century literary creation, production and commercialization. In Chapter 2, Pandey offers an insightful account of how language, prestige, canonicity, and academic capitalism are intertwined with one another, focusing, among other things, on the hierarchization of literary value, apprenticeship models of transnational writing, and prize-proliferation. Pandey begins Chapter 3 with the definition of linguistic exhibitionism as ‘the deliberate use of modern multilingualism for cosmetic effect’ (p. 83), demonstrating convincingly and thought-provokingly that ‘literary production in the 21st century points toward a cosmetic deployment of multilingualism in the service of monolingualism’ (p. 85). In other words, 21st century literary creations are characterized by shallow multilingualism and re-Englishing. The author presents a detailed taxonomy of strategies of linguistic exhibitionism, arguing for the blending of linguistic and literary frameworks, and for a nano-sociolinguistics.

In Chapter 4, Pandey explores The White Tiger, by Booker winner Aravind Adiga, to highlight that semantic re-looping has been embedded in a strategy of conspicuous conflationary contrasts to ensure the privileging of English over the other languages of India. In that novel, English, or rather ‘correct’ English, becomes ‘a conduit for self-freedom’ (p. 133) and is relegated to ‘a one word, token status’ (p. 156), whereas Hindi is in the service of English, with its linguistic relevance in India mitigated. Ultimately, multilingualism, replaced by linguistic exhibitionism, is something shallow and the global tender-tongue of English emerges as ‘a “natural” outcome of liberty – rather than market liberization’ (p. 165).

The theme of the normative power of monolingualism is continued in Chapter 5, where the author uses Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane as an example to show how the strategies of language fronting and linguistic subverting contribute to the symbolic capital of English. In Chapter 6, the author focuses on language liquidation and language appropriation by examining Pulitzer-winner Jhumpa Lahirl's collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. In Chapter 7, Pandey deals with linguistic insecurity and linguistic imperialism as reflected in Booker winner Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence. This chapter confirms that award-winning writing often makes an effort to ‘sustain current global linguistic asymmetries’ (p. 8). Finally, the concluding chapter sums up three re-occurring patterns of linguistic exhibitionism in 21st century literary production and commercialization.

To conclude, the author must be credited for offering a poignant and thought-provoking text on literary monolingualism in the guise of multilingualism.