Politics and Literature shows how important insights about genocide, poverty, state violence, world terrorism, the clash of civilizations, and other phenomena haunting the world at the turn of the millennium can be derived from contemporary novels. Keren demonstrates ways in which fictional literature can provide new perspectives on the complexities and contingencies of contemporary politics. His fresh readings of well-known novels will be valuable not only for political scientists but also for anyone interested in current affairs who reads fiction but is not always aware of its power to provide enlightenment on world issues. Works by José Saramago, Cormac McCarthy, Anosh Irani, John Le Carré, and Yann Martel, among others, are studied.

Michael Keren is a professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary. He is the author of many books on public intellectuals, political communication, and political literature, including Blogosphere: The New Political Arena and The Citizen’s Voice: Twentieth-Century Politics and Literature.

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