historical fiction with a revolutionary bent

[kropotkin]

Can anyone recommend some historical fiction with a revolutionary bent like (alternative history) "Resurrections from the Dustbin of History", or Italo-groupwrite "Q"?

(Or indeed any novels about European (east or west) partisans in WW2? I liked "If not now, when?" by Primo Levi, if that helps... )

 

[imposs1904]

Josef Škvorecký's The Cowards. I read it years ago but I seem to remember that I enjoyed it.

 

[Jon-of-arc]

Not that historical (set in the aftermath of 9/11) but Zoe Hellers The Believers concerns a radical left family that suffers various crisis of faith when the patriarch suffers a stroke at the start. Really well written, very believable, rounded charecters (with varying political positions which ring true to US lefty politics as I understand it...) and very funny - when Jesse Jackson turns up to visit the father in hospital when he has his stroke, the English mother/main charecter says "Jesse's alright, but he does bang on a bit." Can't recommend it enough.

 

[imposs1904]

Not that historical (set in the aftermath of 9/11) but Zoe Hellers The Believers concerns a radical left family that suffers various crisis of faith when the patriarch suffers a stroke at the start. Really well written, very believable, rounded charecters (with varying political positions which ring true to US lefty politics as I understand it...) and very funny - when Jesse Jackson turns up to visit the father in hospital when he has his stroke, the English mother/main charecter says "Jesse's alright, but he does bang on a bit." Can't recommend it enough.

That sounds interesting. I'll need to look out for it.

 

[Jon-of-arc]

That sounds interesting. I'll need to look out for it.

She wrote the book of Notes on a Scandal, so she is a "name" - see if your local library has it or can get it from one of their satallite branches. It was published in 08, so recent enough but not so popular it'd be on a waiting list for ages.

 

[zog]

under the frog - tibor fisher

 

[kropotkin]

Thanks for the replies

 

[JimW]

I've not read it but saw the film based on it: Comrade Jacob by David Caute on the Diggers.

 

[imposs1904]

I've not read it but saw the film based on it: Comrade Jacob by David Caute on the Diggers.

The book is recommended. Read it years ago.

 

[Gramsci]

Moorcock (science fiction ) writer is sympathetic towards revolutionary ideas. Some of his earlier novels are alternative histories. See here for some of his novels:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/benjaminbeck/anarchysf/m.htm

Also William Morris "News From Nowhere" is on this webpage. Its now an old book. Its interesting view by the famous late 19th c victorian of how a future socialist society could look.

 

[redsquirrel]

There's "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by Iain Pears, the same story told from 4 different viewpoints, it's set just after the restoration.

 

[rekil]

The Clanking Of Chains by Brinsley MacNamara, published in 1920 and set around the 1916 rising.

 

[Gramsci]

Steampunk is not expressedly political but its often written by people on the left . China Mieville for example. Its a kind of alternate history / fantasy based around the victorian era

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

 

[kropotkin]

Great stuff all- some of the latter ones are more like what i'm after.
There are some obvious SF ones: Ursula Le Guin's the dispossessed, China Mieville's Iron Council more than his others, Ken Macleod's output

 

[kyser_soze]

Not quite what you're after, but I'd recommend Adam Roberts' Salt has a good imagining of an anarchist society in the future...

So really completely the opposite of what you're after, but I reckon you'd enjoy it nonetheless...

 

[kropotkin]

Thanks, but I'm really looking for well-written historical novels with revolutionary ideas, currents or processes as main themes.

 

[yield]

The Female Man by Joanna Russ? It was recommended by Michael Moorcock.

Doesn't fit your description though unless 1975 is old enough.

One of the four strands is an alternative history where the Great Depression never ended.

 

[eoin_k]

54 by Wu Ming (Collective that overlaps with 'Q's Luther Blisset) is good on postwar Italy - with a partisan back story or two thrown in.

 

[Pickman's model]

spartacus by james leslie mitchell

 

[gawkrodger]

not so much of a 'revolutionary' bent, but I can guarantee the OP will love the books of Alan Furst

http://alanfurst.net/main.htm

and a review of his latest

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...ies-of-the-balkans-by-alan-furst-2015870.html

Some other good recommendations in this thread. Whilst we're on a Luther Blisset/Wu Ming kick, their latest (well, latest translated into English) Manituana is predictibly great

 

[ChocolateTeapot]

The Good Soldier Svejk by Jarsolav Hasek - might not be exactly "revolutionary" as such, but does chart one lowly Czech soldiers attempts to avoid being crushed (literally and metaphorically) by the Imperial Austro-Hungarian army during WW1 and has a very strong anti-authority theme running through it. And is also very funny, if you like Kurt Vonnegut Jr type humour.

 

[123bpm]

54 by Wu Ming (Collective that overlaps with 'Q's Luther Blisset) is good on postwar Italy - with a partisan back story or two thrown in.

Wu Ming will be visiting Liverpool's Writing on the Wall festival in May 2011. More details to follow.

 

[William of Walworth]

Winter In Madrid by C. J. Sansom is very readable, and fascinating historically. The winter in question is 1940, very soon after the Republicans were defeated.

Again not exactly revolutionary as such, but plenty of left and revolutionary Spanish and other characters featured ... drawback might be that the story's told from the perspective of a posh (albeit sympathetic, anti Franco) English diplomat.

 

[october_lost]

Spartacus by Howard Fast, covers the great slave revolts
Iron Heel by Jack London, technically sci-fi but deals with late 19th/20th century workers movement and fleshes out alot of politics
The Rape of the Fair Country by Alexander Cordell, about the Chartist rebellions in Wales
How we shall bring about the revolution by Pataud and Pouget, rebellion by French Syndicalists.
Sabate by Antonio Tellez, anti-fascist guerilla

 

[Khardran]

Assuming by revolutionary you mean ideas, people and eras i can heartily recommend The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon.

Probably my favourite series of books and it will keep you going for a long time

 

[Sue]

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel about the French Revolution.

 

[Dillinger4]

Wu Ming will be visiting Liverpool's Writing on the Wall festival in May 2011. More details to follow.

I wont be missing that.

 

[rekil]

Three by Beppe Fenoglio. I just came across him so can't vouch for them, maybe someone here can

The Twenty-Three Days In The City Of Alba.

A Private Affair

Johnny The Partisan. Also a fillum.

 

[butchersapron]

Wun ming/luther blisset people currently working on a Q style one set in the French revolution...

 

[Dillinger4]

Wun ming/luther blisset people currently working on a Q style one set in the French revolution...

Sounds good. I have enjoyed everything I have read by them so far.