From time to time in the Doubleday Short Studies in Political Science
series, guest analysts from outside the formal boundaries of the
discipline will be invited to help fill certain gaps in existing
materials. In the present instance a young professional student of
literature, Dr. Joseph Blotner, has contributed a much-needed and
highly useful introduction to the political novel. Thanks largely to
the care and skill with which this analysis has been prepared, students
of English and political science, as well as general readers, should
find new and stimulating pathways open to them.
So far as the editor and author know, this is the first essay of its
kind in the English language. The fact is worth noting because, despite
the large number of political novels in all languages and despite the
obvious importance of this particular species of the novel generally,
scholars in the field of literature have not devoted systematic
attention to it. Until Dr. Blotner decided to undertake a full-scale
investigation of the political novel--of which the present essay is one
of the beginning steps--the teacher of political science could search
the modern language journals and literary periodicals in vain for help
in canvassing the possibly valuable contributions of the novelist in
describing and explaining political behavior.
_The Political Novel_ is to be welcomed on still other grounds.
It is interdisciplinary in scope and intent and it demonstrates anew
the fruitful results which can be achieved when a scholar merges his
technical competence in one branch of learning with his informed and
enthusiastic interest in another. Moreover, crude and scattered though
the bridges between pairs of the social sciences (e.g., political
psychology) are, the bridges between the social sciences and the
humanities are even more so. Collaboration--in this case between
literature and political science--should certainly take more than one
form, but whatever the form, the great need is to light up the shadowy
twilight zones which lie between major disciplines. Not only are these
unexplored areas of subject matter to be charted, there are common
purposes and joint efforts to be considered. Among others, Dr. Blotner
has raised the question: what can the experts in literature and in
politics give to each other?
The analysis of the political novel set forth in these pages makes a
variety of contributions to learning. Novels can be read two ways:
for pleasure and for profit. The latter object--as in all academic
subjects--is sometimes pursued under conditions which deny the
former. Nonetheless, the reader is reminded by Dr. Blotner that to be
alerted beforehand to the nature and significance of this type of
novel is to combine pleasure with an awareness that the content may
be very revealing of data concerning political life. Thus the words
of a writer are at once pleasure-giving and instructive--_if_
the reader is looking out for the proper clues. Second, there is
made available an original classification of political novels and
politically relevant summaries to serve as a guide to political
scientists. The bibliography, though selected, is especially useful
in this respect. Third, the headings and substance of Chapters Two
to Six actually provide a set of analytical functions which the
author believes the novel may serve in illuminating major aspects of
politics and government. This study is so cast that the transition
from thinking about novels to thinking about politics is painless
and without distortion. No one having any familiarity with the
traditional categories of political science will find Dr. Blotner’s own
presentation strange or unsophisticated.
In addition, this essay represents an attempt to establish durable
intellectual bases for probing the nature of the political novel. The
tentative definitions and criteria of identification, classification of
functions, and annotations are a substantial move in this direction.
Finally, among the data revealed in the contents of political novels
is evidence of the way a given society reacts to its own political
institutions and practices. To the extent that such novels partially
yet accurately reflect social reality, the student of politics can
draw valid inferences concerning the political beliefs--including
beliefs about the nature of politics--held by a sizeable portion of the
society’s membership at any one time. One can detect at least the broad
outlines of periodic shifts in the political concerns of a people or
any segment thereof in their literature.
Chapter One discusses some problems arising from a study of the
political novel. This is an important chapter and contains some homely
wisdom on the different approaches respectively of the novelist and
the political scientist. It should be stressed that certain crucial
points with respect to the analysis of human behavior in general can be
raised by comparing the techniques of the two kinds of observers and
reporters. The well-known remark about pictures being worth thousands
of words has occasionally been transposed to the effect that one good
story is worth a whole (and dry) textbook. This, of course, is an
attractive argument. But it does raise the fundamental question of what
analytical operations are performed by the novelist on the one hand and
the political scientist on the other. Offhand it would seem as though
there were important differences carrying beyond those of purposes
discussed by the author. Generally speaking, the novelist is primarily
concerned with a coherent story, with a whole fabric of description,
and with specific details while the political scientist is concerned
with events, processes, and factors, with abstractions from wholes and
with classes of general phenomena. The latter builds upon numerous
instances, upon gross data, and upon repeated patterns of behavior. The
former builds upon an amassing of individualized data fashioned into a
unique chronicle. The one gains richness and sacrifices capacity to
generalize, the other sacrifices detail for broad generalization. For
the novelist, Uncle Tom becomes a microcosm, a device for revealing
the tragedy of the whole Negro race in America through a portrait of
a single character. For the political scientist, Uncle Tom is lost in
what can be said of the entire group of which he is a member. Both are
limited and both pay a price accordingly. Clearly more is involved in
the different analytic techniques but it suffices to indicate one type
of issue raised in this study of the political novel.
Other issues are equally noteworthy. The main character in a novel
may be likened to a dummy--or a model--created by the author for the
purposes of expressing the author’s observations and, in effect, for
“playing out” his ideas. Though the character is pure fiction--i.e.,
any similarities to known real persons are coincidental--an effective
novel must have believable characters, recognizable through behavior
traits identified by readers from their own everyday experience. So
too the social scientist uses models--analytic dummies--to further his
purposes. Dissecting the anatomy of a political model and putting its
characters under close examination can teach something about the most
fruitful relationships between real persons and fictional characters
for purposes of describing and explaining behavior. Often the fact
that the novelist is actually building models is obscured by the
amount of detail he pours into his molds which then makes his models
seem remarkably lifelike. While the models of the social scientist are
usually much further removed from correspondence to real persons, the
properties built into them must be “believable” too.
Another area of inquiry can be opened up if one accepts the cues
offered by Dr. Blotner’s selections and analyses. Political novels
seem to reflect mostly the seamy side of political life, emphasizing
conflict as the sole theme meriting attention. Through their
characters, authors seem to place great blame for social ills on
political institutions as detached from other institutions or on
individual devils. Is this a reliable and full revelation of politics?
As a matter of fact, novels too seem caught in two opposite kinds of
explanations: the great man and the great historical force. Each has
significant limitations and accompanying fallacies yet each assumes
great plausibility at the hands of a skillful storyteller. Inevitably
the novelist dramatizes, and in real life the political actor
dramatizes too. Unfortunately, the tendency to dramatize reinforces the
neglect of the mundane factors which often influence crucial political
action and choice.
This line of thought suggests certain concrete exercises which might be
profitable for the student of politics to undertake. Since the search
for fruitful hypotheses is a backbone of any systematic discipline,
it might be useful to search these novels to see if any have been
missed. A corollary effort would be to check the knowledge of politics
exhibited in political novels against the latest agreements among
political scientists. Still another effort might be directed toward
a content analysis (in the technical sense) of the novel as medium
of communication in order to throw light on the value structure of
the society or individuals which are depicted. Finally, what aspects
of politics have been ignored by novelists and why? For example,
a novel might be an excellent way to illuminate the world of the
decision-maker, the governor, the leader. Thus far, none has really
done so.
Dr. Blotner is to be congratulated for aiding an important cause: the
use of novels as a teaching device in political science courses. Those
who have tried have been rewarded but have lacked an introductory essay
and bibliographical guidance. Novels make points which can be made in
no other way and in interesting fashion. The student’s idea of the
political realm and of approaches to its understanding will be enlarged
by following the thoughtful guide presented below.
One considerable merit of this monograph is a lighter style than is
normally characteristic of political science literature. Nonetheless,
its intellectual quality will make the reader anticipate Dr. Blotner’s
larger study.