| POLITICAL
FICTION
The year 2012 could well be the
most controversial time in our country’s
political history. So, let’s begin with
Gideon Rachman’s statement in his FT.com
blog: “Fiction is a route to political
truth”.
The boundaries of Political Fiction are
definitely a challenge, which makes it quite
hard to delimit. When columnists and novelists
explore the promises expressed in campaign speeches
by the people running for an elected office,
they often find themselves trying to define
what is being said. The politician’s lack
of knowledge on subjects usually is quite evident
and is filled with partial facts and a sprinkling
of fiction.
Politicians, generally in their campaign speeches,
use satire, fables and quotes from past presidents.
Political speechwriters are word architects,
and create them to be used likened to a polished
razor that delivers a keen wound that’s
scarcely felt or seen. This directly criticizes
their audiences unknowingly, or it can present,
or often embrace, another genre, Political
Fantasy (A fiction created by political
speechwriters that takes place in a fabricated
world).
As a political observer and writer, it never
ceases to amaze me of the lies, promises, and
rhetoric that politicians from both parties
relate to their audiences during campaigning
at election time. Most of their speechwriters
do not keep them informed on current events,
which are or have occurred around the globe.
Their abilities to read from a pre-written speech,
in front of an audience or during a candidate
debate, about different subjects are “off
the wall” and contain mostly their party’s
rhetoric.
If you want to prepare yourself for
the political beguiles of this coming campaign
year, I suggest reading:
|
 DEMOCRACY,
An American Novel (1880)
by Henry Brooks Adams. This novel
is a commentary about political corruption
and does not portray any of its characters
in a positive light. Yet, it was supposedly
based on the careers of certain political
figures in Maine.
|
|
 ALL
THE KINGS MEN (1946) by
Robert Penn Warren. It’s
set in the mid 1930’s, and portrays
the dramatic rise and fall of a fictional
political figure named, Willie Stark.
Stark campaigns his way throughout the
state of Louisiana and becomes its governor.
His political strong-arm tactics gain
him many enemies and cause his dismiss
by being shot to death on the steps of
the state capital building.
|
|
 AMERICAN
WIFE (2008) by Curtis
Sittenfeld. The novel is a political
satire, and believed to be loosely based
on the life of Laura Bush. It depicts
a quiet, well-read woman with compassion
for the world around her. Her marriage
to an aggressive militant president-husband,
who gets the nation into a very controversial
war, gently pushes her into a compassionate
agenda of helping needy people around
the globe.
|
If the above novels tickle your taste for political
satire, then maybe you’re ready for an
intricate law-and-politic-laced-crime fiction
series. I suggest reading the following novels
that reflect today’s greed for political
power and crime: Kerry Kilcannon
Political Fiction Trilogy
by Richard North Patterson.
|
