Between the Tower and the Machine

Author John Green considers fictional writing inherently political because "people—even imaginary ones—do not live in vacuums", and this has some truth to it. It's impossible to write without being affected by external forces, especially since politics is, well, everything. The word itself comes from the Ancient Greek "politēs", meaning "citizen". It affects all of us. Emily Dickinson's poetry, consciously or otherwise, is obviously coloured by the events of the Civil War.

However, I don't think it's the writer's automatic duty to make their work have a strong social or political thrust. They can carry that particular flag if they want to, but it shouldn't get in the way of a writer's true duty - making good art. A good novel/play/film with added sociopolitical subtext is a welcome touch of cinnamon on a delicious cake. A ranting sociopolitical screed that resembles a novel/play/film if you squint at it? That's like eating a giant lump of cinnamon that just happens to look like a cake, and would be just as much fun to consume.

To suggest that a creative writer, in a time of conflict must split his life into two compartments, may seem defeatist or frivolous: yet in practice I do not see what else he can do. To lock yourself up in an ivory tower is impossible and undesirable. To yield subjectively, not merely to a party machine, but even to a group ideology, is to destroy yourself as a writer. - George Orwell