Editing Political fiction (section)

==20th-century novel==
[[Joseph Conrad]] wrote several novels with political themes:  ''[[Nostromo]] (1904)'', ''[[The Secret Agent]]'' (1907), and
''[[Under Western Eyes (novel)|Under Western Eyes]]'' (1911). ''Nostromo'' (1904) is set amid political upheaval in the fictitious [[South America]]n country of Costaguana, where a trusted Italian-descended longshoreman, Giovanni Battista Fidanza—the novel's [[eponym]]ous "Nostromo" (Italian for "our man")—is instructed by English-descended silver-mine owner Charles Gould to take Gould's silver abroad so that it will not fall into the hands of revolutionaries.<ref>[[Joseph Conrad]], ''[[Nostromo]]'', 1904.</ref>  The role of politics is paramount in ''The Secret Agent'', as the main character, Verloc, works for a quasi-political organisation. The plot to destroy [[Greenwich Observatory]] is in itself anarchistic. Vladimir asserts that the bombing "must be purely destructive" and that the anarchists who will be implicated as the architects of the explosion "should make it clear that [they] are perfectly determined to make a clean sweep of the whole social creation."<ref name="anarchist">{{Citation | first = Joseph | last = Conrad | year = 1993 | title = The Secret Agent | place = London | publisher = Penguin | page = 35}}.</ref> However, the political form of anarchism is ultimately controlled in the novel: the only supposed politically motivated act is orchestrated by a secret government agency. Conrad's third political novel, ''[[Under Western Eyes (novel)|Under Western Eyes]]'', is connected to Russian history. Its first audience read it against the backdrop of the failed [[Revolution of 1905]] and in the shadow of the movements and impulses that would take shape as the [[Russian Revolution|revolutions of 1917]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Conrad: The Critical Heritage |url=https://archive.org/details/conradcriticalhe0000sher |url-access=registration |editor=Norman Sherry |location=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1973 |page=[https://archive.org/details/conradcriticalhe0000sher/page/234 234]}}</ref>  Conrad's earlier novella, ''[[Heart of Darkness]]'' (1899), also had political implications, in its depiction of European [[colonialism|colonial]] depredations in [[Africa]], which Conrad witnessed during his employ in the [[Congo Free State|Belgian Congo]].<ref>''The Norton Anthology'', 7th edition, 2000, p. 1957.</ref>

[[John Steinbeck]]'s novel ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' (1939) is a depiction of the plight of the poor. However, some Steinbeck's contemporaries attacked his social and political views. Bryan Cordyack writes: "Steinbeck was attacked as a [[propaganda|propagandist]] and a [[Socialism|socialist]] from both the left and the right of the political spectrum. The most fervent of these attacks came from the Associated Farmers of California; they were displeased with the book's depiction of California farmers' attitudes and conduct toward the migrants. They denounced the book as a 'pack of lies' and labeled it 'communist propaganda'".<ref name=cordyack>{{cite web
  | last = Cordyack
  | first = Brian
  | title = 20th-Century American Bestsellers: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
  | publisher = Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  | url = http://unsworth.unet.brandeis.edu/courses/bestsellers/?title=the+grapes+of+wrath
  | access-date =February 18, 2007}}</ref> Some accused Steinbeck of exaggerating camp conditions to make a political point. Steinbeck had visited the camps well before publication of the novel<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,643450,00.html
  |title=Of Men and Their Making: The Non-Fiction Of John Steinbeck
  |publisher=Penguin
  |last1= Shillinglaw
  |first1=Susan
  |last2= Benson
  |first2=Jackson J
  |access-date=December 17, 2008
| location=London
| date=February 2, 2002
  }}</ref> and argued that their inhumane nature destroyed the settlers' spirit.

''[[The Quiet American]]'' (1955) by English novelist [[Graham Greene]] questions the foundations of growing American involvement in Vietnam in the 1950s. The novel has received much attention due to its prediction of the outcome of the Vietnam War and subsequent American foreign policy since the 1950s. Graham Greene portrays a U.S. official named Pyle as so blinded by [[American exceptionalism]] that he cannot see the calamities he brings upon the Vietnamese.  The book uses Greene's experiences as a war correspondent for ''[[The Times]]'' and ''[[Le Figaro]]'' in [[French Indochina]] in 1951–54.<ref>Andrew J. Bacevich, "Best Intentions: An Appreciation of Graham Greene".  World Affairs {{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20130419012016/http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/best-intentions-appreciation-graham-greene]}}</ref>

''[[The Gay Place]]'' (1961) is a set of politically themed novellas with interlocking plots and characters by American author [[Billy Lee Brammer]]. Set in an unnamed state identical to Texas, each novella has a different protagonist: Roy Sherwood, a member of the state legislature; Neil Christiansen, the state's junior senator; and Jay McGown, the governor's speech-writer. The governor himself, Arthur Fenstemaker, a master politician (said to have been based on Brammer's mentor [[Lyndon Johnson]]<ref name="cf">
{{cite web
| first = Charlie
| last = Finch
| title = The Gay Place
| date = February 8, 2011
| publisher = [[artnet]]
| url = http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/finch/william-brammer-the-gay-place-2-8-11.asp
| access-date = July 12, 2012
}}
</ref>) serves as the dominant figure throughout. The book also includes characters based on Brammer, his wife Nadine,<ref name="as">
{{cite news
| last = Salamon
| first = Jeff
| date = March 29, 2009
| title = Nadine Eckhardt makes her own 'Gay Place'
| newspaper = [[Austin American-Statesman]]
| url = http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/books/03/29/0329eckhardt.html
| access-date = July 14, 2012
}}
</ref>
Johnson's wife [[Lady Bird Johnson|Ladybird]], and his brother [[Sam Houston Johnson]].<ref name="cf" /> The book has been widely acclaimed one of the best American political novels ever written.<ref name="lehmann">
{{cite journal
| last = Lehmann
| first = Christopher
| title = Why Americans can't write political fiction
| date = October–November 2005
| journal = [[Washington Monthly]]
| url = http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0510.lehmann.html
| access-date = July 24, 2012
}}
</ref><ref name="tm">
{{cite journal
| last = Reinert
| first = Al
| author-link = Al Reinert
| title = Billy Lee
| date = February 1979
| journal = [[Texas Monthly]]
| url = http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/billy-lee
| access-date = July 11, 2012
}}
</ref><ref name="tm2">
{{cite journal
| last = Reed
| first = Jan
| title = Return to The Gay Place
| date = March 2001
| journal = [[Texas Monthly]]
| url = http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/return-gay-place
| access-date = July 14, 2012
}}
</ref>