Conservative Novels and Novelists
John Yoo ·
November 21, 2011 at 7:08pm
To continue the Shakespeare theme from the National Review Cruise (btw, when is Ricochet going to schedule it's own cruise? With Rob Long in charge, I foresee a three-hour tour on a boat named the Minnow), where speakers discussed the "conservative novelist." Are there novelists who are conservative? Are there any great novels that are conservative? Or is there no place for liberal or conservative in art (as one of the cruise panelists argued)?
Here is a chance to combine our discussions with Black Friday–I am interested if any great conservative novels will make for good Christmas gifts.
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Anything by Donald E. Westlake. Or Richard Stark. Marilynne Robinson. P.G. Wodehouse. Rex Stout. Douglas Adams. Evelyn Waugh.
Oct '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
CandE
Great book, but I never really pegged it as a conservative novel. I'm curious about your reasoning.
-E · Nov 21 at 12:50pm
I shouldn't have mentioned the novel, but that's the only one of his I've read. I enjoyed it, but sitting here post-eggnog-&-bourbon, I'm not going to attempt a conservative analysis.
I was referring to the author. Card has taken a very conservative stance, he calls himself a disappointed Democrat. I see it's mentioned in his Wikipedia entry. And in case there's any doubt, I also see on Wikipedia that he's an avid Firefly fan.
Nov '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Douglas K,
I have thoroughly enjoyed Tom Wolfe's novels, but I perceive them all as veiled criticisms of capitalism; par exemple, I am Charlotte Simmons and even, gasp... The Right Stuff.
What say you?
Oct '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
ETD
Douglas K,
I have thoroughly enjoyed Tom Wolfe's novels, but I perceive them all as veiled criticisms of capitalism; par exemple, I am Charlotte Simmons and even, gasp... The Right Stuff.
What say you? · Nov 21 at 4:56pm
I've enjoyed Tom Wolfe taking conservative positions in interviews (one with Bill Moyers sticks in my mind), but of the books you've mentioned, I've only read
Bonfire of the Vanities, which I didn't particularly like. I did read an interview he gave after I Am Charlotte Simmons in which he clearly seemed to be faulting modern culture, not capitalism.
Nov '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Severely Ltd.
ETD
Douglas K,
I have thoroughly enjoyed Tom Wolfe's novels, but I perceive them all as veiled criticisms of capitalism; par exemple, I am Charlotte Simmons and even, gasp... The Right Stuff.
What say you?
I've enjoyed Tom Wolfe taking conservative positions in interviews (one with Bill Moyers sticks in my mind), but of the books you've mentioned, I've only read
Bonfire of the Vanities, which I didn't particularly like. I did read an interview he gave after I Am Charlotte Simmons in which he clearly seemed to be faulting modern culture, not capitalism.
Wolfe blamed capitalism for bad modern behavior; I wouldn't make that connection.
Oct '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
ETD
Severely Ltd.
ETD
Douglas K,
I have thoroughly enjoyed Tom Wolfe's novels, but I perceive them all as veiled criticisms of capitalism; par exemple, I am Charlotte Simmons and even, gasp... The Right Stuff.
What say you?
I've enjoyed Tom Wolfe taking conservative positions in interviews (one with Bill Moyers sticks in my mind), but of the books you've mentioned, I've only read
Bonfire of the Vanities, which I didn't particularly like. I did read an interview he gave after I Am Charlotte Simmons in which he clearly seemed to be faulting modern culture, not capitalism.
Wolfe blamed capitalism for bad modern behavior; I wouldn't make that connection. · Nov 21 at 5:29pm
I read Bonfire of the Vanities when it first came out in Hardback, and my memory of it is dim. How explicitly does he make the connection? Judging from what I read since, I can imagine it being a weak correlation rather than causative, but I'm just thinking out loud.
Oct '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Oh, I like this post. I'll give you a run for your money, Tab.
Has anyone mentioned Tolkien?
And my wife won't forgive me if I don't mention George Mcdonald Fraser. Not an obvious conservative, he was pretty bawdy, but his public statements at the end of his life eviscerated modern Liberalism. His books on war showed a deeply honorable and conservative soul. He wrote the excellent Flashman series and the screenplay for my favorite movies, The Three Musketeers/The Four Musketeers (the Richard Lester versions).
If you want a higher authority's opinion, here's P.G.Wodehouse on Fraser; "If there was a time when I felt that watcher-of-the-skies-when-a-new-planet stuff, it was when I read the first Flashman."
Apr '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Cormac McCarthy is conservative, but an extremely dark John Derbyshire-like conservatism.
Feb '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Graham Greene The Power and the Glory - or anything else by him, including the hilarious Our man in Havana.
Also, as you can tell from my avatar - Aubrey/Maturin. Not sure who mentioned reading them every five years - but I am on The Ionian Mission for my 5th time around.
Sep '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
I doubted that anyone would post any sci-fi novels, so I am glad to see the genre well-represented! And, someone already mentioned Michael Flynn as a co-author of a recommended novel, but he has a great series--the Firestar Saga. It's been some time since I finished it; I'll have to give it another read.
Feb '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
To get as far away from serious as I can, there is a fantasy series - The Sword of Truth (it was made into a TV series recently). As we get further into the series the bad guys are reason denying communists.
Aug '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Allow me to second (or third or fourth) the recommendation of A Canticle for Leibowitz; it is profound, and largely overlooked because of its scifi setting.
An author who's very conservative indeed but who has not come up yet is the incomparable Flannery O'Connor. Not light reading, but her two novels and many short stories strike sledgehammer blows at the veneer of 'sophisticated' modernity. No other fictional stories make me think more about sin, salvation, eternity and all else that really matters.
Edited on November 22, 2011 at 3:42amAug '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
A related question.
Who is our Chernyshevsky? I'm thinking of Nikolay Chernyshevsky whose 'progressive', utopian novel "What Is To be Done?" (1863) was read by all young Russian aspiring intellectuals in the later C19th and went a long way to softening them up to be unable to resist the assaults of Marxism.
He was Lenin's favourite writer, so much so that he stole the title for one of his own books.
I think there are a lot of candidates in the American canon from "Catcher in the Rye" to "Catch 22", but my vote goes to "Gravity's Rainbow", a book which made the generation of American grad students of the 1970's that much more ready to assimilate cultural marxism, via the notion that creative forms of paranoia were the last word in hip.
Nov '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Severely Ltd.
ETD
Wolfe blamed capitalism for bad modern behavior; I wouldn't make that connection.
I read Bonfire of the Vanities when it first came out in Hardback, and my memory of it is dim. How explicitly does he make the connection? Judging from what I read since, I can imagine it being a weak correlation rather than causative, but I'm just thinking out loud.
In this day and age, weak correlations have easily morphed into powerful causatives.
Read the inside cover of the hardback. The very first thing we learn about Sherman McCoy -- investment banker-- is that he is a criminal and an adulterer.
I am Charlotte Simmons could have been written about those unfortunate and unfairly maligned lacrosse players at Duke.
Moi, aussi!
Dec '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Kafka is the only novelist who catches the full horror of the 20th century. He does this by creating a surreal world where unspeakable horrors are the norm. He places the blame for this world where it belongs on the godless, mindless, amoral materialist tyranny that took control. The movie with Jeremy Irons does justice to this. In it Mr. Kafka is spun from one maddening event to another until he finds the source of the madness. Like a Greek tragedy, though Mr. Kafka survives these events and even prevails against them, the toll is taken on his health and is dying at the end of the movie. It is a warning to us all never to undervalue freedom and faith. When an entire society is seduced by a scientific ideology then murder and madness follow shortly.
Sep '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
I'm going to third Mark Helprin - in particular Winter's Tale and A Soldier of the Great War. But I also highly recommend his short story collections such as A Dove of the East and The Pacific.
As far as Tom Wolfe, check out his essay collection Hooking Up. Smart, funny, insightful, varied and deliciously devastating like when he skewers literary titans such as John Updike, John Irving and Norman Mailor in "My Three Stooges."
Oct '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Dave Berry, reliably libertarian, always funny and surprisingly poignant when he chooses to be.
Arthur Conan Doyle. This was just brought home to me just last night when I finished his final Sherlock Holmes novel Valley of Fear.
Aug '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Well Mr Yoo, this looks like the basis for another needed Ricochet feature- a list.
There have been several rounds of this, and hopefully the archives are strong, as we will end up with recommended movies, books, authors, Spanish Judges to be avoided , and recipes. When Ricochet gets so popular that everything emanating from it will immediately impact the popular culture (dont tell Derb) these lists will become important, if not Oprahesque (God forbid).
Nov '11
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
Love him! Read: Big Trouble; but his non-fiction is the most hilarious.
Dec '10
Re: Conservative Novels and Novelists
ETD
Severely Ltd.
Read the inside cover of the hardback. The very first thing we learn about Sherman McCoy -- investment banker-- is that he is a criminal and an adulterer.
! · Nov 21 at 6:56pm
He is an adulterer, but he is unfairly accused of being a criminal