Introduction: ‘The Most Effective Means of Propaganda’

Abstract

The importance of literature in the study of politics, especially in the development and propagation of political ideas, has not been investigated in any depth in Britain; at least, not by students of politics. Several recent studies indicate a growing interest in the relationship between politics and literature, but none was written by or principally for students of politics. One such study was written by a sociologist, Alan Swingewood. Indeed, there has been a considerable upsurge in interest in the sociology of literature over the last few years, prompted by a growing awareness of the influence of imaginative literature upon Marx himself.¹ As its title, The Novel and Revolution,² suggests, Swingewood’s book deals almost exclusively with the theories and practices of revolution. Naturally enough, its emphasis is sociological and, more specifically, Marxist, though it contains much to interest and inform the student of politics. The second study is part of an older and, from the point of view of the student of politics, less fruitful tradition. It is called Writers and Politics in Modern Britain³ and is written by an English specialist, J. A. Morris. The book is organised thematically but not, from the point of view of the student of politics (for whom it was not written), systematically.