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knivesout · 27th October 2004, 07:29 AM

Here's an interesting reading list compiled by China Mieville called 'Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Works That Socialists Should Read' : http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/s...,50socialist,1

I'm a political agnostic if anything, but there is a real interest in politically engaged fiction, and the list is quite sweeping, from works where the political or social themes are covert, like M John Harrison's Viriconium to Ursula Le Guin's piercing examination of capitalist and communist utopias in The Disposessed. Apart from that, Mieville's blurbs for each book are concise and admirably expressive. I can't resist quoting his take on one of my least favourite works of speculative politics:

Ayn Rand -- Atlas Shrugged (1957)
Know your enemy. This panoply of portentous Nietzcheanism lite has had a huge influence on American SF. Rand was an obsessive "objectivist" (libertarian pro-capitalist individualist) whose hatred of socialism and any form of "collectivism" is visible in this important and influential -- though vile and ponderous -- novel.

27th October 2004, 07:29 AM	#1 (permalink)
knivesout cheap,flashy little crook Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 2,998	Mieville Recommends... Here's an interesting reading list compiled by China Mieville called 'Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Works That Socialists Should Read' : http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/s...,50socialist,1 I'm a political agnostic if anything, but there is a real interest in politically engaged fiction, and the list is quite sweeping, from works where the political or social themes are covert, like M John Harrison's Viriconium to Ursula Le Guin's piercing examination of capitalist and communist utopias in The Disposessed. Apart from that, Mieville's blurbs for each book are concise and admirably expressive. I can't resist quoting his take on one of my least favourite works of speculative politics: Ayn Rand -- Atlas Shrugged (1957) Know your enemy. This panoply of portentous Nietzcheanism lite has had a huge influence on American SF. Rand was an obsessive "objectivist" (libertarian pro-capitalist individualist) whose hatred of socialism and any form of "collectivism" is visible in this important and influential -- though vile and ponderous -- novel.