Talk:Essay:Greatest Conservative Novels

Animal Farm is anti-Communist and 1984 is anti-totalitarian; this doesn't make them conservative. Dadsnagem2 11:59, 14 January 2008 (EST)

Animal Farm is actually anti-Stalinist, but yeah. In fact, 1984 is quite liberal. --MakeTomorrow 12:12, 14 January 2008 (EST)

The two books have many themes in common, including playing up an outside threat to seize or retain power. How is it that one's con and the other's lib?--Frey 12:25, 29 October 2008 (EDT)

Ok, so this was in an edit, but not on this page, but I want to raise the issue anyway. How is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress not conservative? The statement of TANSTAAFL (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch) is best statement of the bedrock of conservatism I've ever heard.ArnoldFriend 11:27, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

In fact, wasn't Orwell a socialist, disillusioned with what the USSR became, as opposed to what he hoped it would be? ArthurA 08:55, 25 March 2009 (EDT)

Ayn Rand's novels may have some conservative themes, but she was an outspoken atheist, and this is reflected in at least some of her work, especially Atlas Shrugged.--Martib 23:01, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

Right, her junk shouldn't be on this list.--Aschlafly 23:04, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

Oh, and as far as Rand goes, no list of "greatest novels" should include anything as utterly unreadable as Atlas Shrugged! :-) ArthurA 08:55, 25 March 2009 (EDT)

I was just wondering why Lord of the Rings was on the list. Certainly it has some themes that might be derived from Christianity since Tolkien was a devout Christian, but I fail to see how this or any other aspect sets it aside as distinctly 'conservative'. RobertWDP 13:25, 25 February 2009 (EST)

Listing The Moon is a Harsh Mistress as conservative is a stretch. I'd term it libertarian (almost hardcore libertarian, though not as much so as, say, Ayn Rand's works), not conservative. (We all know that libertarians do share a number of viewpoints with conservatives, but also differ on many key beliefs.) If you want to include a Heinlein novel, I'd suggest Starship Troopers. It, like Moon is somewhat libertarian in its viewpoint, but not as much so, and Troopers is also unwaveringly pro-military, a good conservative value. Support for the military simply isn't a theme that's even addressed in Moon. (For what its worth, I know several libertarian science fiction fans, including a few absolute raving libertarians, and they generally rank Heinlein up there with Rand as their favorite authors.)

I agree with RobertWDP that Lord of the Rings doesn't belong on the list. Great books though they are, I don't think Tolkien had much if any political motivation in writing them. (In fact, as I understand it, his motivation was to create something he felt Great Britain lacked -- a "myth cycle" analogous to the mythology of Greece, Rome, the Norse, Egypt, etc.) And while Tolkien was a Christian, and there are Christian elements in the books, they're not as explicitly Christian as, for instance, CS Lewis' body of work, which is steeped in Christian allegory. If you want to include a work of fantasy, I'd suggest the Narnia books, though even those I'd find it a bit of a stretch to consider them especially reflective of conservative Christianity as opposed to Christianity in general. (Disclosure: I've read LotR numerous times. I've only read Narnia once, and that's been a while back.) ArthurA 08:52, 25 March 2009 (EDT)

Reasons for listing

As for the "best conservative songs" article, I think that the quality of this article would improve if reasons were added for each item, clearly explaining what makes that particular book "conservative". I agree with some of them, for example, but I have SERIOUS doubts on Lord of the Rings. What makes Tolkien's book CONSERVATIVE? Also, I'm not sure Orwell would have been happy to be considered a right-wing Conservative, as he stated quite clearly that everything he ever wrote, he wrote against totalitarianism, and in favour of democratic socialism. --MarcoT2 20:52, 25 July 2010 (EDT)

I'm all for adding reasons, but it seems self-evident that the works of Orwell and Tolkien are conservative.--Andy Schlafly 23:55, 25 July 2010 (EDT)

It may be self-evident to those who are well acquainted with those works, but they're not the ones who need to read the article. Shouldn't the entry have information for the benefit of those not already familiar with the writings of the listed authors? DanielPulido 00:40, 26 July 2010 (EDT)