Ten Political Novels
Shelly Lowenkopf -- July 1, 2008
It's that time: the political season is upon us and the politicians are out-doing the writers' of fiction with their creative interpretations of reality. Shelly has compiled this selection of political novels for those who want to read more about everyone's favorite sport.
Political novels are like thermometers; they reflect the temperature of the political symptoms of a given era. Here are ten novels that reveal the fevered brows of their times:
- The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007). Set against a backdrop of the reign of the Dominican Republic dictator, Rafael Trujillo, this narrative moves between the Dominican Republic and contemporary New Jersey to tell the story of a family, their friends, and a Diaspora. Remarkably formatted with footnotes reflecting history and authorial commentary, this novel parallels growing up under a dictatorship with growing up in a minority in America.
- The Plot Against America: A Novel by Philip Roth (2004). In a dystopic alternate universe, FDR loses the 1940 Presidential election to Charles Lindberg. America becomes by degrees more isolationist in foreign policy and anti-Semitic in social behavior.
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985). Another example of the dystopia, or utopia-gone-wrong, The Handmaid's Tale dramatizes the subjugation of women within a near-totalitarian, theology-based society. Author Atwood demonstrates how extremism, fundamentalism, and sexist rhetoric undermine an informed and healthy society.
- Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon (1959). In this conspiracy theory thriller set during the Korean War, an American platoon is captured and brainwashed to believe one of their number heroically saved them during combat. The "hero" has been further brainwashed to serve as a sleeper agent for the Communists.
- Advise and Consent by Alan Drury (1959). A novel designed to show the intricate workings of the United States Senate; this narrative posits the nomination to the position of Secretary of State an individual with a background as a former Communist, currently with liberal politics. The United States Senate, with a duty to advise the President of the United States and consent to his programs, is seen in action, vetting the individual and the implications of his service as Secretary of State.
- Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene (1958). A genial-but-passive British expatriate living in pre-Castro Havana as a vacuum cleaner salesman becomes an agent for British Intelligence as a way of making more money to pay for his daughter's convent education. This elaborately constructed satire effectively ridicules the often-unseen consequences of a mismanaged intelligence program run by any country.
- The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer (1958). The United States, in its attempts to topple a fictional Southeast Asian country with a Communist regime, inflicts severe physical damage on the country as well as causing moral damage to American policy. This novel is a wrenching example of well-intended help without being asked for it, and of the hubris of dealing with another country without understanding its culture.
- 1984 by George Orwell (1949). The final work by an ardent observer of the political process, this novel is an excellent representation of the scholar/critic Edward Said's concept of late style. Nineteen Eighty-four is a dramatic meditation on the effects of a society gone totalitarian, with its far-reaching repression on thought, independent spirit, foreign policy, and moral inquiry.
- All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946). A fictionalized biography of a major populist politician from the American South, this narrative reflects the dialectic between power and conscience. The character of the protagonist, Willie Stark, and Huey Long, the real-life individual on whom he is based, has become an archetype of the American populist tradition.
- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe (1852). Many critics and historians agree that this sentimentalized accounting of the American experience with slavery fueled the Abolitionist Movement, which in turn influenced the American Civil War. Uncle Tom, his family, and Simon Legree, the slave owner, evolved from fictional presences to stereotypical realities well into the twentieth century.
There are significant others, such as Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Red and the Black, and The Last Hurrah, each in its own way detailing with increasing clarity the map of the political landscape of humanity.