I thought I'd try something new here, and that is tying current events to fiction.
What's in the news: Bush heads for Constitutional Showdown. (And, we hope, impeachment or, better yet, jail.) Illegal wiretapping, executive powers run amok, secret government projects with no Congressional oversight -- all leading to another round of tugging at our poor old Constitution to see how far it will stretch before breaking. It all sounds too familiar....
Literary precedent: All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. A great read, even if we know the outcome. Watergate coverage got me into journalism school. Not to mention I had a crush on Carl Bernstein. With Nixon, it was the tapes. With Bush, it will probably be e-mails. Ah, life. Everything old is new again, isn't it?
Fictional counterparts:
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. Imperialism and exploitation, anyone? For a novella, this book covers some big themes. I think Bush and Cheney could play Marlow and Kurtz in a film version. (Wow, what Francis Ford Coppola could have done making this film today: Baghdad Now?)
All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren. A great read, though I don't think Willie Stark (or Huey Long) had anything on the Bush or Nixon Administrations for dirty politics.
1984 by George Orwell. Okay, I haven't actually read this one (shame on me), but it was too obvious of a choice. Big Brother, indeed!
Any books you've read that reflect the news about the Bush and the subpoena showdown?
7 comments:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle pitted one soul against an alternate universe. Though the wife is a problem. Laura is technically still here.
Have you read 'The Word for World is Forest' by Ursula K. LeGuin? It features a villain by the name of Captain Davidson who exemplifies the worst of this administration: arrogance, intolerance, disdain and the equation of intellect, moderation, and compassion with weakness. He's as horrific as he is fascinating, and provides the reader with sobering insight into much of what's going on in today's politics.
Ah, no, I'm afraid not. But I love the idea!
And I agree that All the King's Men is a great read.
Can we talk about Supreme Court decisions as well? The overthrow of Brown vs. the Board of Education with this week's ruling certainly puts me in mind of Animal Farm: All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.
(And LK, omg, you haven't read 1984?!?!?)
I hate Shrub as much as anyone, but impeachment would be bad, bad, bad. I really don't want to get Dicked for the next four years.
And shame--SHAME, you and I say--on YOU for not reading "1984."
Let's boycott LK until she gets her act together. Who's with me?
Okay, I'm teasing.
Well, sort of... ;)
I know, I know! Hey, at least I didn't LIE about it. And I did see the movie.
I will put 1984 on top of the staggeringly tall TBR pile.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I read that book in a Women in Politics class in college and was blown away by how close we are to that sort of society.... creepy
Post a Comment