Political extremism in literature

October 26, 2009 9:34 AM

Novels where political extremism is an underlying theme.

I'm looking for some novels that depict the protagonist descending into political extremism (any type) after some sort of extreme event or troubling past. I'm interested in the way the personalities and thoughts of these people are portrayed in writing. Something like Mishima's Runaway Horses would be good. Many thanks!

posted by thesailor to Writing & Language (32 answers total)

Brick Lane by Monica Ali is just fantastic (link goes to a Guardian review).
posted by katiecat at 9:37 AM on October 26, 2009

I think "Man's Fate" by Malraux my fit this.
posted by Busmick at 9:38 AM on October 26, 2009

Just read The Children's Book by A.S Byatt, and several of the main characters fall into (and sometimes out of) political extremism. Charles/Karl is one (he becomes an anarchist), and one of the younger Wellwood daughters is another (she becomes a suffragette). The novel as a whole portrays a full spectrum of political involvement, from mild & moderate to violent & radical.
posted by ourobouros at 9:46 AM on October 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Leon Uris's Trinity
posted by mkb at 9:55 AM on October 26, 2009

Conrad's "The Secret Agent"
posted by oinopaponton at 9:57 AM on October 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Animal Farm!
posted by BobbyDigital at 10:06 AM on October 26, 2009

Daniel Deronda would also work beautifully.
posted by ourobouros at 10:07 AM on October 26, 2009

1984
God of Small Things
Midnight's Children
(in many parts) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Tin Drum and the rest of the Danzig Trilogy
A Tale of Two Cities
posted by zoomorphic at 10:10 AM on October 26, 2009

John Brunner's The Sheep Look Up
posted by Zed at 10:13 AM on October 26, 2009

War and Peace
Charterhouse of Parma
Austerlitz and Gravity's Rainbow directly and obliquely deal with the the aftermath of political extremism
posted by zoomorphic at 10:16 AM on October 26, 2009

You might count The Monkey Wrench Gang in there.
posted by box at 10:18 AM on October 26, 2009

Atlas Shrugged.
posted by something something at 10:21 AM on October 26, 2009

The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing.
posted by hazyjane at 10:23 AM on October 26, 2009

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.
posted by MuffinMan at 10:55 AM on October 26, 2009

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore.
posted by Zozo at 11:13 AM on October 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Man, I recommend it all the time, but Infinite Jest I think would fit wonderfully. Not so much the 'protagonist' proper falling into extreme politics, but there is a great deal of secret Canadian wheel chair assassins...

And I suppose it depends on your notion of political extremism and such, but I might also recommend The Man Without Qualities.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:15 AM on October 26, 2009

Hari Kunzru's My Revolutions - loosely based on the Angry Brigade/70s urban guerillas.
posted by Abiezer at 11:17 AM on October 26, 2009

The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez would definitely fit the Bill. You might also like James Meek's The People's Act of Love which I highly recommend.
posted by tallus at 11:18 AM on October 26, 2009

Some nineteenth-century examples (all of them antagonistic to working-class radicalism): Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton and North and South; Benjamin Disraeli's Sybil; George Eliot's Felix Holt, the Radical.
posted by thomas j wise at 11:20 AM on October 26, 2009

The Demons (aka The Possessed) by Dostoevsky
posted by nangua at 11:32 AM on October 26, 2009

Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
posted by Balna Watya at 11:39 AM on October 26, 2009

Well, if you really mean any type, The Turner Diaries
posted by A189Nut at 11:41 AM on October 26, 2009

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev is another
posted by cotesdurhone at 12:07 PM on October 26, 2009

Snow by Orhan Pamuk.
posted by motsque at 12:13 PM on October 26, 2009

American Pastoral by Philip Roth. Great book; my favorite that I've read of his.
posted by threeants at 12:22 PM on October 26, 2009

Sorry, just to clarify, the extremist isn't the protagonist per se, but a very central character.
posted by threeants at 12:23 PM on October 26, 2009

Leviathan, by Paul Auster.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:33 PM on October 26, 2009

can't recommend this highly enough...

Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall

In her stunning novel, Hall imagines a new dystopia set in the not-too-distant future. England is in a state of environmental crisis and economic collapse. There has been a census, and all citizens have been herded into urban centers. Reproduction has become a lottery, with contraceptive coils fitted to every female of childbearing age. A girl who will become known only as "Sister" escapes the confines of her repressive marriage to find an isolated group of women living as "un-officials" in Carhullan, a remote northern farm, where she must find out whether she has it in herself to become a rebel fighter. Provocative and timely, Daughters of the North poses questions about the lengths women will go to resist their oppressors, and under what circumstances might an ordinary person become a terrorist.

posted by jammy at 4:32 PM on October 26, 2009

Zola's Germinal
posted by runincircles at 5:18 PM on October 26, 2009

The Good Terrorist, Doris Lessing
posted by Artw at 9:41 PM on October 26, 2009

The Antithesis Progression by J. Daniel Sawyer, although it's currently only available as a free audiobook. And only Book 1, Predestination and Other Games of Chance is available at all yet. Book 2 starts next month and I am so excited.
posted by JDHarper at 10:34 PM on October 26, 2009

54
posted by nfg at 3:23 AM on October 27, 2009