THE POLITICAL NOVEL AND THE POLITICIZATION OF THE NOVEL
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Abstract
THE POLITICAL NOVEL AND THE POLITICIZATION OF THE NOVEL Th e paper argues that we should diff erentiate between explicitly and implicitly political novels and the politicization of novels, the latter being a result of symptomatic interpretation (Culler). Th is diff erentiation helps preserve the discriminating sense of (sub) genre distinctions as an awareness of these categories makes the reader more sensitive to all kinds of manipulations of genre rules. Political novels should be recognized by the predominance of political motifs (setting, characters, themes, dialogue, agenda and confl ict). Implicitly political novels lack explicit political motifs, but advocate the need for some kind of political commitment and political reform. Th e individual categories are illustrated using examples of 19th-century American novels.