Posted by Jimi Fallows on January 13, 1999 at 15:52:57:
In Reply to: Re: political discourse posted by Diana Hamilton on August 06, 1998 at 10:59:36:
Politics in Vance? Seeing as Vance has literally created hundreds of models of socio-political systems in his books I would have thought that any discussion of Vance's works would eventually cover the political angle, although it is by no means a bad thing that this hasn't much been the case. I'm thinking, for example of 'To Live Forever'. Of course Vance always shows the individual's response to the socio-political framework and although certain charcter types are more common in his work than others (the determined and motivated entrepeneur who balances social responsibility with personal gain) I think Vance has managed to paint pictures with pretty much every political colour imaginable. On the back cover of a book by Hayford Pierce ('Napoleon Disentimed' which I bought solely on the strength of the affadavit from Vance; I was disappointed) Vance calls Pierce a 'true student of the cosmopolis', words which better describe Vance himself.
Anarchists, monarchists, capitalists, communists, democrats, dictators, they all get their turn at playing hero, villain and fool. For me this is one reason why Vance's work endures for the reader, and why Vance's own politics, whatever they may be, refrain mercifully from infecting his art.