Political fiction

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Legal fiction.
Aristophanes
Plato
Thomas More
Jan Kochanowski
Miguel de Cervantes
Jonathan Swift
Voltaire
Ignacy Krasicki
Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Charles Dickens
Ivan Turgenev
Leo Tolstoy
Bolesław Prus
Edward Bellamy
Joseph Conrad
John Steinbeck
George Orwell

Political fiction employs

proletarian novel, and social science fiction
.

Utopia (1516), Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726), Voltaire's Candide (1759), and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin
(1852).

Political fiction frequently employs satire, often in the utopian and dystopian genres. This includes totalitarian dystopias of the early 20th century such as Jack London's The Iron Heel, Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Political satire

The

Greek playwright Aristophanes' plays are known for their political and social satire,[5] particularly in his criticism of the powerful Athenian general, Cleon, in plays such as The Knights. Aristophanes is also notable for the persecution he underwent.[5][6][7][8] Aristophanes' plays turned upon images of filth and disease.[9] His bawdy style was adopted by Greek dramatist-comedian Menander, whose early play, Drunkenness, contains an attack on the politician, Callimedon
.

Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal (1729) is an 18th-century Juvenalian satirical essay in which he suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. The satirical hyperbole mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as British policy toward the Irish in general.

a reign of terror. Orwell described his Animal Farm as "a satirical tale against Stalin",[13] and in his essay "Why I Write
" (1946) he wrote that Animal Farm was the first book in which he tried, with full consciousness of what he was doing, "to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole."

Orwell's most famous work, however, is

authoritarian state.[14]

16th-century novel

The poet Jan Kochanowski's play The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys (1578), the first tragedy written in the Polish language, recounts an incident leading up to the Trojan War. Its theme of the responsibilities of statesmanship resonates to the present day.[15]

The book

Utopia (1516), written by Sir Thomas More, talk about a story of a different world compared to the one they live in. The character Thomas More is sent by King Henry VIII of England to negotiate the English wool trade. There he meets a man by the name Raphael Hythloday. He is a man that has been to the island on Utopia. He explains to More how their entire philosophy is to find happiness and how they all live collectively by sharing everything they have; they are a society where money does not exist. Which is very different than how England was run.[16][17]

18th-century novel

The political

United States Constitution implemented in 1789. The comedy pits proponents against opponents of political reforms: of abolishing the destabilizing free election of Poland's kings; of abolishing the legislatively destructive liberum veto; of granting greater rights to peasants and townspeople; of curbing the privileges of the mostly self-interested noble class; and of promoting a more active Polish role in international affairs, in the interest of stopping the depredations of Poland's neighbors, Russia, Prussia, and Austria (who will in 1795 complete the dismemberment of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). Romantic interest is provided by a rivalry between a reformer and a conservative for a young lady's hand—which is won by the proponent of reforms.[18]

19th-century novel

An early example of the political novel is

historical novel. Set in northern Italy in 1628, during the oppressive years of direct Spanish rule, it has been seen sometimes as a veiled attack on the Austrian Empire, which controlled Italy at the time the novel was written. It has been called the most famous and widely read novel in the Italian language.[19]

In the 1840s British politician Benjamin Disraeli wrote a trilogy of novels with political themes. With Coningsby; or, The New Generation (1844), Disraeli, in historian Robert Blake's view, "infused the novel genre with political sensibility, espousing the belief that England's future as a world power depended not on the complacent old guard, but on youthful, idealistic politicians."[20] Coningsby was followed by Sybil; or, The Two Nations (1845), another political novel, which was less idealistic and more clear-eyed than Coningsby; the "two nations" of its subtitle referred to the huge economic and social gap between the privileged few and the deprived working classes. The last of Disraeli's political-novel trilogy, Tancred; or, The New Crusade (1847), promoted the Church of England's role in reviving Britain's flagging spirituality.[20]

nihilism", which became widely used after the novel was published.[21]

The Polish writer

the powers that be are vulnerable to co-option, seduction, subornation, defamation, intimidation, and assassination. Perhaps the chief lesson, belatedly absorbed by Ramses as pharaoh, is the importance, to power, of knowledge. Prus' vision of the fall of an ancient civilization derives some of its power from the author's intimate awareness of the final demise of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, a century before he completed Pharaoh. This is a political awareness that Prus shared with his 10-years-junior novelist compatriot, Joseph Conrad, who was an admirer of Prus' writings. Pharaoh has been translated into 23 languages and adapted as a 1966 Polish feature film.[22] It is also known to have been Joseph Stalin's favourite book.[23]

20th-century novel

Joseph Conrad wrote several novels with political themes: Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), and

Revolution of 1905 and in the shadow of the movements and impulses that would take shape as the revolutions of 1917.[26] Conrad's earlier novella, Heart of Darkness (1899), also had political implications, in its depiction of European colonial depredations in Africa, which Conrad witnessed during his employ in the Belgian Congo.[27]

John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is a depiction of the plight of the poor. However, some Steinbeck's contemporaries attacked his social and political views. Bryan Cordyack writes: "Steinbeck was attacked as a propagandist and a socialist from both the left and the right of the political spectrum. The most fervent of these attacks came from the Associated Farmers of California; they were displeased with the book's depiction of California farmers' attitudes and conduct toward the migrants. They denounced the book as a 'pack of lies' and labeled it 'communist propaganda'".[28] Some accused Steinbeck of exaggerating camp conditions to make a political point. Steinbeck had visited the camps well before publication of the novel[29] and argued that their inhumane nature destroyed the settlers' spirit.

The Quiet American (1955) by English novelist Graham Greene questions the foundations of growing American involvement in Vietnam in the 1950s. The novel has received much attention due to its prediction of the outcome of the Vietnam War and subsequent American foreign policy since the 1950s. Graham Greene portrays a U.S. official named Pyle as so blinded by American exceptionalism that he cannot see the calamities he brings upon the Vietnamese. The book uses Greene's experiences as a war correspondent for The Times and Le Figaro in French Indochina in 1951–54.[30]

Lyndon Johnson[31]) serves as the dominant figure throughout. The book also includes characters based on Brammer, his wife Nadine,[32]
Johnson's wife Ladybird, and his brother Sam Houston Johnson.[31] The book has been widely acclaimed one of the best American political novels ever written.[33][34][35]

21st-century novel

Since 2000, there has been a surge of Transatlantic migrant literature in French, Spanish, and English, with new narratives about political topics relating to global debt, labor abuses, mass migration, and environmental crises in the Global South.[36] Political fiction by contemporary novelists from the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America directly challenges political leadership, systemic racism, and economical systems.[36] Fatou Diome, a Senegalese immigrant living France since the 1990s, writes political fiction about her experiences on France's unwelcoming borders that are dominated by white Christian culture.[37] The work of Guadeloupean author Maryse Condé also tackles colonialism and oppression; her best known titles are Ségou (1984) and Ségou II (1985). Set in historical Segou (now part of Mali), the novels examine the violent legacies of the slave trade, Islam, Christianity, and colonization (from 1797 to 1860).[38][39] A bold critic of the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, French novelist Marie Ndiayes won the Prix Goncourt for "Three Strong Women"(2009) about patriarchal control.[40]

Proletarian novel

The

social-problem novel (also problem novel, sociological novel, or social novel),[43] propaganda or thesis novel,[44] and socialist-realism
novel. The intention of the writers of proletarian literature is to lift the workers from the slums by inspiring them to embrace the possibilities of social change or of a political revolution. As such, it is a form of political fiction.

The proletarian novel may

anarchist authors. It is about the lives of the poor, and the period from 1930 to 1945, in particular, produced many such novels. However, proletarian works were also produced before and after those dates. In Britain, the terms "working-class
" literature, novel, etc., are more generally used.

Social novel

A closely related type of novel, which frequently has a political dimension, is the social novel – also known as the "social-problem" or "social-protest" novel – a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel".[45] More specific examples of social problems that are addressed in such works include poverty, conditions in factories and mines, the plight of child labor, violence against women, rising criminality, and epidemics caused by overcrowding and poor sanitation in cities.[46]

Charles Dickens was a fierce critic of the poverty and social stratification of Victorian society. Karl Marx asserted that Dickens "issued to the world more political and social truths than have been uttered by all the professional politicians, publicists and moralists put together".[47] On the other hand, George Orwell, in his essay on Dickens, wrote: "There is no clear sign that he wants the existing order to be overthrown, or that he believes it would make very much difference if it were overthrown. For in reality his target is not so much society as 'human nature'."[48]

Dickens's second novel,

Midlands industrial town and particularly criticizes the effect of Utilitarianism on the lives of cities' working classes. John Ruskin declared Hard Times his favourite Dickens work due to its exploration of important social questions. Walter Allen
characterised Hard Times as an unsurpassed "critique of industrial society",

Notable examples

Other notable examples are in the main lists, above.

Science fiction

See also

Notes

  1. ^ ""HIST 294 - Political Fiction", Wesleyan University, accessed 12 December 2005 Archived September 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ National Public Radio (August 8, 2007). Plato's 'Republic' Still Influential, Author Says. Talk of the Nation.
  3. ^ Plato: The Republic. Plato: His Philosophy and his life, allphilosophers.com
  4. ^ Brickhouse, Thomas and Smith, Nicholas D. Plato (c. 427–347 BC), The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, University of Tennessee, cf. Dating Plato's Dialogues.
  5. ^ a b Sutton, DF (1993), Ancient Comedy: The War of the Generations, New York, p. 56{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Bates, Alfred, ed. (1906), "Political and social satires of Aristophanes", The Drama, Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 2, London: Historical Publishing, pp. 55–59
  7. S2CID 170936469
  8. ^ Anderson, John Louis, Aristophanes: the Michael Moore of his Day, archived from the original on 2006-10-19
  9. ^ Wilson 2002, p. 17.
  10. ^ "BBC - GCSE English Literature - 'Animal Farm' - historical context (pt 1/3)". bbc.co.uk.
  11. ^ Orwell, George. "Why I Write" (1936) (The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 1 – An Age Like This 1945–1950 p. 23 (Penguin))
  12. ^ Gordon Bowker, Orwell p. 224 ; Orwell, writing in his review of Franz Borkenau's The Spanish Cockpit in Time and Tide, 31 July 1937, and "Spilling the Spanish Beans", New English Weekly, 29 July 1937
  13. ^ Davison 2000.
  14. ^ The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Sixth Edition. University of Oxford Press: 2000. p. 726.
  15. ISBN 83-01-03323-1
    , pp. 157–58.
  16. ^ "Utopia by Sit Thomas More". LitCharts. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  17. ^ "Best Books of the 16th Century (185 books)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  18. ^ Zdzisław Skwarczyński, wstęp (introduction) to Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Powrót posła (The Return of the Deputy), Wrocław, Ossolineum, 1983.
  19. ^ Archibald Colquhoun. Manzoni and his Times. J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1954.
  20. ^ a b "Benjamin Disraeli 1804–1881", Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism, eNotes, accessed 25 August 2013
  21. ^ "Nihilismus" (PDF). Johannes Kepler University. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  22. ^ Christopher Kasparek, "Prus' Pharaoh and Curtin's Translation", The Polish Review, vol. XXXI, nos. 2-3, 1986, p. 129.
  23. ^ Christopher Kasparek, "Prus' Pharaoh and Curtin's Translation", p. 128.
  24. ^ Joseph Conrad, Nostromo, 1904.
  25. ^ Conrad, Joseph (1993), The Secret Agent, London: Penguin, p. 35.
  26. ^ Norman Sherry, ed. (1973). Conrad: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 234.
  27. ^ The Norton Anthology, 7th edition, 2000, p. 1957.
  28. ^ Cordyack, Brian. "20th-Century American Bestsellers: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath". Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved February 18, 2007.
  29. ^ Shillinglaw, Susan; Benson, Jackson J (February 2, 2002). "Of Men and Their Making: The Non-Fiction Of John Steinbeck". London: Penguin. Retrieved December 17, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  30. ^ Andrew J. Bacevich, "Best Intentions: An Appreciation of Graham Greene". World Affairs [1][usurped]
  31. ^ a b Finch, Charlie (February 8, 2011). "The Gay Place". artnet. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  32. ^ Salamon, Jeff (March 29, 2009). "Nadine Eckhardt makes her own 'Gay Place'". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  33. ^ Lehmann, Christopher (October–November 2005). "Why Americans can't write political fiction". Washington Monthly. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  34. ^ Reinert, Al (February 1979). "Billy Lee". Texas Monthly. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  35. ^ Reed, Jan (March 2001). "Return to The Gay Place". Texas Monthly. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  36. ^
    OCLC 1096294244.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  37. ^ "Senegalese Migrant Novelist Fatou Diome Is Now the Militant Marianne by Rosemary Haskell". World Literature Today. 2017-10-04. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  38. JSTOR 26280515
    .
  39. ^ "Maryse Conde | Biography, Books, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  40. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2020-10-14. On Three Strong Women
  41. ^ H. Gustav Klaus, The Socialist Novel in Britain: Towards the Recovery of a Tradition. ( Brighton: Harvester Press, 1982, p. 1.
  42. ^ H. Gustav Klaus.
  43. ^ A Handbook to Literature 7th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), p.487; "social problem novel." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. [2]
  44. ^ J. A. Cuddon (revised C. E. Preston), The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. (London: Penguin, 1999), pp. 704, 913
  45. ^ "social problem novel" in Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. [3].
  46. ^ "Childers, JW (2001)"
  47. ^ Kucich & Sadoff 2006, p. 155.
  48. ^ Eliot, George. "Charles Dickens".
  49. ^ Raina 1986, p. 25.
  50. ^ Bodenheimer 2011, p. 147.
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