Mieville Recommends...

[kaelcarp]

Originally Posted by Storm Centurion

Why reject her for libertarian values and being anti-socialist?

Because Mieville himself is a very strong socialist, one who actually ran for office as such. Naturally, he's going to consider anything anti-socialist to be antithetical to his own views.

Personally, while I'm not a socialist, I'm not a fan of Rand's political beliefs. She glorifies capitalists and egoism way too much and seems to be either in denial of or unaware of the drawbacks of unhindered capitalism. Her views seem as naive to me as anything communism ever produced.

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by the smiling weirwood

Is China Mieville a socialist? I couldn't tell anything about him from his book, except that he idolizes the desert, no doubt due to his time in the Midle East.

His political sympathies are most obvious in Iron Council, but I've always put his hatred of New Crobuzon (or, rather, the feelings this city state evokes in Miéville's characters in all three Bas Lag books) down to his view of the society in which he lives, i.e. antipathy. As he's a good writer above anything else, it doesn't intrude in a way that would drive a non-socialist away, i.e. it's easy to forget his political leanings and simply immerse oneself in the books.

[kaelcarp]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

As he's a good writer above anything else, it doesn't intrude in a way that would drive a non-socialist away, i.e. it's easy to forget his political leanings and simply immerse oneself in the books.

I agree. I think even if I were an Objectivist, I could enjoy Mieville's work (although an Objectivist might not quite enjoy Iron Council, I guess). Other than IC and a short story or two, his politics are not overt in his stories.

[gil]

I've read 6 of these, all of which but one are excellent.

Pavane I have as individual parts in my collection of the whole run of Impulse magazine. I loved these stories.

Gormenghast - one of the mainsprings of my youth. Fantastic story, well told. A friend of mine was similarly captivated, and owns a unique collection of Peake ephemera, original hand-written text and drawings.

Use of Weapons, yes.

Watson's Slow Birds... well, OK in parts. The anti-Thatcher stuff is frankly tedious, a sort of weak case of Ben Elton.

Pullman's Dark Materials.. yes.

The Master and Margarita - total piffle, in my opinion. Typical case of an author who has not taken the trouble to limit fantasy and magical powers, just allowing his magician (the devil, in this case) to thrash about, together with a lot of tiresome jokes about politicians whose main claim to fame is as butt of Bulgakov's tiresome jokes. It started well, and I liked the Pontius Pilate business, but it all collapsed in a heap about two thirds through. I think the Kremlin showed good judgement in banning it.

What d'you think? Did I overstate my case?

[the smiling weirwood]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

His political sympathies are most obvious in Iron Council, but I've always put his hatred of New Crobuzon (or, rather, the feelings this city state evokes in Miéville's characters in all three Bas Lag books) down to his view of the society in which he lives, i.e. antipathy. As he's a good writer above anything else, it doesn't intrude in a way that would drive a non-socialist away, i.e. it's easy to forget his political leanings and simply immerse oneself in the books.

Well, I was unable to tell Orson Scott Card was a fundamental Mormon until I started reading Alvin Maker...so my aptitude for deducing the character of the author from his works is not excessively high.

[Ursa major]

It wasn't (just) intuition on my part, tsw (if I may call you that). After reading Perdido Street Station (I managed to read the books in the order they were written, for once), I was impressed and so I googled Mr Miéville to see what else he'd written; I discovered his political leanings during that process.

[Thadlerian]

Originally Posted by gil

The Master and Margarita - total piffle, in my opinion. Typical case of an author who has not taken the trouble to limit fantasy and magical powers, just allowing his magician (the devil, in this case) to thrash about, together with a lot of tiresome jokes about politicians whose main claim to fame is as butt of Bulgakov's tiresome jokes. It started well, and I liked the Pontius Pilate business, but it all collapsed in a heap about two thirds through. I think the Kremlin showed good judgement in banning it.

What d'you think? Did I overstate my case?

No. I quite agree with your characteristic of The Master and Margarita.