A novel can stage antiwar protest as mere self-indulgence rather than politics

Evidence

The most unintegrated element in the novel is probably the antiwar march itself. As a plot driver, it operates to cause the traffic holdup that leads to Perowne’s first confrontation with Baxter. Beyond that, the largest political rally in British history exists only to allow him a few supercilious shots at the protesters and their slogans. Banners proclaiming “Not in My Name” have a “cloying self regard” that suggests “a bright new world of protest, with the fussy consumers of shampoo and soft drinks demanding to feel good or nice” (72). Although, we are told, “Perowne cannot feel, as the marchers probably do, that they have an exclusive hold on moral discernment” (73), he sometimes manages an air of sanctimony that is every bit as self-congratulatory. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 112

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to how Home Boy and The Reluctant Fundamentalist stage or omit post-9/11 political protest — a hinge for comparing how each novel represents the political field. — connects to: FitzGerald’s antiwar case was built on postmodern critique of abstraction — Marianne DeKoven, Utopia Limited: The Sixties and the…, 710; The novel’s liberal individualist form inherently limits what it can contest — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 17; Literature can intervene in state propaganda and the culture wars — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 67
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: FitzGerald’s antiwar case was built on postmodern critique of abstraction — Marianne DeKoven, Utopia Limited: The Sixties and the…, 710; The novel’s liberal individualist form inherently limits what it can contest — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 17; Literature can intervene in state propaganda and the culture wars — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 67

Broader Connections

• The novel’s liberal individualist form inherently limits what it can contest #complicates (0.72) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 17
• Literature can intervene in state propaganda and the culture wars #complicates (0.71) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 67