Seli Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Shouldn't this thread be predicated by a firm definition of what a "conservative" is? After all if it simply mean a preference for the "Status Quo" a modern liberal would have been a "conservative" immidieatelu following he start of the "New Deal".The site where this list originates seems to try to be inclusive. In the discussion thread there they try to find a balance between Burkian, Libertarian and social conservatives. And try to include works that treat those believes in an interesting way as well (people were recommending Altered Carbon). Which does seem to be a sensible, if inherently difficult way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 most fantasies that forefront ruling class protagonists, hidden monarch heroes, bucolic virgins who become emperor by their own hand, anything wherein gods walk the earth--all inherently conservative. that sweeps up martin, RSB, et al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dietl Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 So, as a socialist i have to read 50 books and as a conservative 10 are enough. Seems fitting somehow.... :read: -> :commie: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerol Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Of course, conservatives today would be disappointed what they see in Tolkien's environmental activism (pro-trees), anti-war, and an author who creates the equivalent of a nuclear weapon that never gets used and ultimately is destroyed rather than deployed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 A surprising number are also horror, but horror lends itself to conservatism.That's putting it mildly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opisthokont Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 i've never regarded dick's as rightwing, but am willing to submit to enlightened opinion there. huxley strikes me as a eugenicist dystopia, but the savage displays a certain individualist streak, similar to the post-apocalyptics, dystopia and post-apocalypse do overlap quite a bit, both tending to lack dicernible story; dystopia at least attempts to develop setting, though.Wasn't Dick the one who went a bit paranoid and reported Stanisław Lem to the FBI as a communist infiltrator trying to take control of the SFWA (and then the world, presumably)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felice Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 My attempt at a top ten for conservatives (bearing in mind that I'm left-wing myself):10. Frankenstein (Shelley) I'd say that has a decidedly anti-conservative, left-wing message. Science can do awesome things, but freaking out about it and running away from the new leads to disaster; failing to look after the disadvantaged (who might actually be superior to you in different circumstances) leads to disaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I'd say that has a decidedly anti-conservative, left-wing message. Science can do awesome things, but freaking out about it and running away from the new leads to disaster; failing to look after the disadvantaged (who might actually be superior to you in different circumstances) leads to disaster.I've always read it as 'Man playing God causes problems,' which is a conservative message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direwolf_of_white_fangs Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 well, you have left wing fascism, dictatorships as well....stalin who killed more than 20 million, pol pot...the murderers guevara and fidel...what fiction these guys read? oh! they probably killed the writers. Only state official writers were allowed...the others censored or killed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old-Growth Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Left-wing fascism? What is that supposed to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 There is both left and right wing statism. In both cases it can be problematic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 what fiction these guys read? oh! they probably killed the writers. Only state official writers were allowed...the others censored or killed.Despite popular conceptions, Stalin was probably the most well-read Russian leader since Catherine the Great. He liked to lull people into a false sense of security with his crude/uneducated persona. I'm honestly not sure though how your post has any bearing on the actual subject matter of the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 well, you have left wing fascism, dictatorships as well....stalin who killed more than 20 million, pol pot...the murderers guevara and fidel...what fiction these guys read? oh! they probably killed the writers. Only state official writers were allowed...the others censored or killed.oh FFS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Pol Pot did kill people for reading and teaching the "wrong" works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 sure. the khmer rouge was a nationalist, primitivist organization, with a master race ideology, a buddhist grounding, a desire to revive the 1000-year gone angkor empire, and an objective to turn the clock of history back to an illiterate, rural, agrarian society. i don't feel any need to own that.dude can designate it "leftwing fascism," an oxymoron, but i'm not seeing the leftwing components, other than standard populist land reforms and expropriations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felice Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I've always read it as 'Man playing God causes problems,' which is a conservative message.That's the popular image of the story and what film versions tend to go with, but it's not the actual book. Frankenstein creates an incredible artificial man, freaks out at what he's done, and abandons his child to fend for himself in a world full of people that hate him on sight through no fault of his own. Despite this, he manages to survive, learn about the world, and educate himself, displaying superhuman intelligence. And initially, he's compassionate too, killing only accidentally and wanting only a companion of his own kind so he won't be condemned to eternal solitude. He doesn't get seriously vengeful till after Frankenstein agrees to construct a mate for him, mostly completes her, then freaks out again and destroys his second creation. And the creation regrets his actions so much he kills himself at the end. Frankenstein is the monster; it's his terrible treatment of his creation that causes all the problems, not the act of creation itself. And if people in general had been able to look past superficial appearances and learn what the creation was actually like, all would have been fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I"m half-way through at the moment, but i'm definitely seeing Felice's reading more. Just the frame story is all ominous, mad-boldly-conquers-stuff, and stuff bites him in the ass because he's not nearly as awesome as he thinks he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old-Growth Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 There is both left and right wing statism. In both cases it can be problematic.Fascism is one kind of authoritarianism but it is more specific than that. There is quite a literature on this subject: consider, e.g. "Who were the Fascists?": a useful collection of articles about the various fascist movements of the inter-war period. For what 'tis worth you will have a hard time finding a reputable scholar who would think that there is any such thing as "left-wing fascism". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isalie Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 well, you have left wing fascism, dictatorships as well....stalin who killed more than 20 million, pol pot...the murderers guevara and fidel...what fiction these guys read? oh! they probably killed the writers. Only state official writers were allowed...the others censored or killed.If only there was a thread about suggested leftwing reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 agreed that frankenstein is a cautionary parenting handbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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