Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

Power and Class in Political Fiction

Elite Theory and the Post-War Washington Novel

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. David Smit

    1. Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Studies class in political fiction

  • Makes broad implications for understanding Elite Theory in literature

  • Appeals to scholars of cultural studies, American studies, politics, and class studies

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • David Smit
    Pages 1-15

  3. Class Consciousness in Late-Twentieth-Century America

    • David Smit
    Pages 17-46

  4. Elite Theory and the American Political Directorate

    • David Smit
    Pages 47-71

  5. Gore Vidal’s Washington, D.C.: Maintaining Legitimacy

    • David Smit
    Pages 73-98

  6. Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent: Moderate Ruling-Elite Ideology

    • David Smit
    Pages 99-122

  7. Joan Didion’s Democracy: Moderate Ruling-Elite Constituencies

    • David Smit
    Pages 123-145

  8. Ward Just’s Echo House: Implementing Policy/Accepting Others

    • David Smit
    Pages 147-171

  9. Conclusion

    • David Smit
    Pages 173-181

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 183-188
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book introduces Elite Theory to the literary study of class as a framework for addressing issues of the nature of governance in political fiction.  The book describes the historical development and major tenets of Elite Theory, and shows how each of four post-war Washington novels—Gore Vidal’s Washington, D.C.; Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent; Joan Didion’s Democracy; and Ward Just’s Echo House—illustrates the way class-based political elites exhibit forms of “ruling-class consciousness” and maintain their legitimacy in an ostensibly democratic form of government by promoting themselves as models of behavior, promulgating an ideology that justifies their rule through their control of the media, and accepting new members from the lower classes. Reading these novels through a socio-political lens, David Smit offers suggestions for ways to work for a more just and equitable society in light of what this analysis reveals about the “culture” that produces our political elites.

Reviews

“Using Stanley Aronowitz’s concept of a ‘political directorate’ and the scholarship on ‘Elite Theory,’ Power and Class in Political Fiction represents an important contribution to class studies and an original perspective for understanding ruling elites in the periods under discussion. The book takes class studies outside the conventional frameworks of class analysis and, by focusing on ‘the Washington novels,’ provides an essential counterpoint and supplement to Marxist perspectives and approaches.” (William E. Dow, Professor of American Literature at the Université Paris-Est (UPEM), France, Professor of English at the American University of Paris, France, and author of Narrating Class in American Fiction (2009))

“In Power and Class in Political Fiction: Elite Theory and the Post-War Washington Novel, David Smit builds a convincing case that understanding Washington elites, as they appear in 20th Century fiction, is a highly valuable exercise. At the intersection of politics and prose, Didion, Vidal, Drury, and Just combine the reporter’s eye with the novelist’s soul as they dissect political elites. Washington novels have long been dismissed, and Smit explains why this is wrong and makes the case for fiction to play its powerful role in uncovering truths that may bypass both reporters and historians.” (Burdett Loomis, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Kansas, USA)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA

    David Smit

About the author

David Smit is Emeritus Professor of English at Kansas State University, USA, where he taught courses on Post-War American Literature and Culture, Henry James, and Expository Writing.  His previous books are The Language of a Master: Theories of Style and the Late Writing of Henry James (1988); The End of Composition Studies (2004); and Ingrid Bergman: The Life, Career, and Public Image (2012).




Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation