Zygmunt Bauman analysed the crises of Europe through the lens of "liquid modernity," focusing on the separation of global power from local politics, the treatment of migration in the context of a moral crisis, and the loss of state agency. In  the 20th and 21st centuries, World Literature acts as a medium translating experiences of the individual, bridging the gap between localized national canons and a deterritorialized global space. In instance, Michel Houellebecq portrays in “Submission” a deeply secularized European elite that has lost all spiritual and moral direction due to hyper-individualism. The characters passively submit to a patriarchal order just to escape the anxiety and isolation. In “The Capital”, Robert Menasse satirizes the European Union headquarters in Brussels. He shows how Austrian, German, and French officials are trapped in their careerism, unable to solve systemic European crises. “Middle England” by Jonathan Coe illustrates Bauman's theory on the collapse of the social state and the rise of right-wing populism. To sum up, World Literature of the 20th and 21st centuries engages with Bauman's ideas by narrating the liquid modern experience, mapping personal trauma against faceless global processes.

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