I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction and theory recently and was looking for a break.
I’ve read a lot of Ursula K. le Guin but don’t really know any other leftist fiction writers so any recommendations are welcome.
I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction and theory recently and was looking for a break.
I’ve read a lot of Ursula K. le Guin but don’t really know any other leftist fiction writers so any recommendations are welcome.
Asimov's Foundation series is pretty great and the whole premise of psychohistory is just historical materialism with sci-fi characteristics.
I would argue that his view of history is that it is materialist rather than idealistic, but it certainly isn't a Marxist conception of historical materialism in any way. While one could probably develop a left wing ideology using some of Asimov's ideas about history, I would in no way put him on the left (eg he was a Malthusian). Still an exceptional series though.
An interesting bit of trivia is that the CPUSA had Asimov flagged as public figure that would be "amendable to its goals," which prompted the FBI to spy on him to see if he was a soviet spy ( source from wikipedia)
He also wrote THE most scathing review of 1984 I've ever seen.