There was a time, and not long past, when almost every major literary “figure” was presumed to be the proponent of a political view of some kind. It was just something everybody knew about them. If you read Hemingway you probably knew he was a leftist (although not by any means a major player in left-wing politics). Evelyn Waugh, conservative. George Orwell, leftist. G.K. Chesterton, conservative. Etc., etc. Such writers made their reputations in literature (fiction, poetry, literary criticism), not politics or political commentary; and if they used their books to preach a “message,” that would be only part of their output, and, ideally, done in a subtle, not-pounding-the-reader-over-the-head sort of way. (Unless the book in question was a clear polemic or political satire like 1984 or Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here.) But a writer’s commitment to a political cause was considered part and parcel of his/her literary career and character. It was, to some limited extent, why the writer wrote. If you had no “message” you weren’t a serious writer, you were a P.G. Wodehouse or some such – entertaining but unimportant.
Has political engagement among serious writers gone out of fashion? Off the top of my hand, I can think of only two contemporary literary figures whose public personae are definitely associated with political viewpoints: Gore Vidal (left-wing) and Tom Wolfe (right-wing). Are there any others?
William F. Buckley, although he’s probably more known as a political figure than a novelist. Tom Clancy (conservative), Vince Flynn (conservative), Ollie North (conservative), Richard North Patterson (liberal)
Errmmm . . . look, let’s try to limit this thread to serious literary figures.
I don’t wanna get all hoity-toity here, I’m not an English prof and I’m no authority on what does or does not qualify a writer to be considered a “serious literary figure” (and it is even arguable that the concept no longer has the meaning or relevance it had in the days of Orwell and Waugh). But I think it’s safe to assume, just as a starting point, that a writer known primarily for spy thrillers and political thrillers is not a serious literary figure, no more than is Anne Rice or John Grisham or Jerry Pournelle. Douglas Coupland, OTOH, is a serious literary figure (but completely apolitical, AFAIK). Let’s try to think in terms of writers whose books might, just might, be required reading in high school or college English courses one day. Or whose books might be shelved in the “literature” section of a bookstore that still maintains separate sections for “literature” and “fiction.”
For my part, I would count Stephenson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson) as a serious literary figure even though he made his reputation in genre fiction (SF – which is the section in the bookstore where you’ll find his latest “Baroque Cycle” novels shelved, even though there are almost no SF elements in them and the fantasy elements are incidental). I accord him this status because he is so clearly a novelist of ideas. But I’ve never heard him associated with Libertarianism or any other political position.
Truthfully, I was pulling things out of my hat for Coupland. And pointing out that it’s not just liberal/conservative. For Stephenson… Something of ‘in the beginning was the command line’, something of ‘Snow Crash’.
I think you just got whooshed, Rik. In any case, we’re finally getting somewhere. Vonnegut definitely is a serious literary figure (whether he merits that distinction is debatable, but no question he has it), and he does have politics, on the left side in his case: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Politics
So far we have:
Right-wing literary figures:
Tom Wolfe
Left-Wing literary figures:
Gore Vidal
Kurt Vonnegut
Libertarian literary figures:
Neal Stephenson (arguably)
Any more? Are there any literary neocons? Greens?
Heinlein is not contemporary, but his work shaped the entire field. He seemed to be both a monarchist and a libertarian. But he also liked to play games with readers.
The Good Doctor Asimov was a Democrat, and Clarke is a Liberal.
I’m afraid that I can’t think, off the top of my head, of many popular, non SF writers of literary merit, of the modern era. This is, of course, my failing.
In the Eighties, a prominent supporter of Charter 88, distinctly anti-Thatcherite and pro-Nicaraguan (The Jaguar Smile is about a trip he made to the country). In current UK terms, now on the anti-Blairite left.
That’s not an unusual profile for many - even most - major contemporary British literary figures, though there are exceptions. The obviously topical similar example is Harold Pinter.