Afterthoughts - Issue 25: Moralism, Memory and the Political Novel, with Ryan Ruby and Becca Rothfeld

Afterthoughts is a discussion series from The Point where our editors talk to writers and readers about new issues of the magazine. On this episode, a recording of a Zoom event held on November 1st, Jon and Rachel talk to literary critic Ryan Ruby (author of “Resisting Oblivion” in issue 25) and critic and Point editor Becca Rothfeld (author of “Sanctimony Literature” in Liberties) for a discussion about the political novel today.

The political significance of the novel was discussed with anguished urgency during the Trump years: Should writers call attention to present forms of injustice and discrimination in their fiction? Do they have a moral responsibility to speak out against oppression and abuses of power? What makes a political novel good? Now, a year after Trump was voted out of office, have we learned anything about the role the novel ought to play in turbulent times? In addition to these timely issues, the conversation also covers larger questions that have survived the Trump mind warp: about the relationship between politics and art, the ancient quarrel between philosophy and literature, and how novels memorialize the past.