Politics and the Novel: a symposium. “We asked a

number of writers to consider the following questions:

Which novel (or novels) prompted (or deepened) your own political

awakening? How old were you when you read it and what effect did it have

upon you? Do you think the novel today is able to embrace or sustain a

deliberately political purpose consistent with a writer’s aesthetic or artistic

obligations? Which two or three political novels (past or present) do you

regard as exemplary, and why?” LA Times