OK, good people. I'm giving a talk on political novels/art. So questions:
Do you think political novel in general are bad, and if so, why?
What makes a novel political and another not?
Can art and politics be separated, and if so, should they be?
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Your second question is the one that immediately came to my mind after reading "Do you think political novel in general are bad, and if so, why?"; and I'm struggling a bit (more than that) with an answer to it.
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I have a few answers but I'm interested in finding out more. And just as important, it seems to me that writers are indoctrinated with the idea that politics has no place in lit, and I want to know why.
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Perhaps ask , whose last-but-one novel, "Middle England', isn't just a great comic story, but also a 'narrative comment', if this makes sense, on Brexit, its roots, its nature and its consequences on British society.
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Would love to know what you both think!
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Just a thought: Soviet propaganda inspired/shaped some of the greatest films in the history of cinema, from 'The Earth' to 'Battleship Potemkin' - all of them overtly political. But try and find a literary equivalent - impossible.
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But what are the great British novels if not British propaganda? American novels? They promote a way of life, a political system. We just don't see them as political because we're in them.
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It seems to me that writers these days are indoctrinated with the opposite: that being 'political' is of the utmost importance. I tend to believe that art simply isn't very good at politics: if you want to make a difference, go into actual politics.
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Is this true of international writers of just American or “Western” writers? Could be because of imperialism & imperialist privilege, the Cold War, American soft power emphasis on the individual and domestic sphere…
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