The Activist and Calvino

Literature and politics seem to me to be two separate entities that interact in a very limited fashion. Italo Calvino states that both are linked and affect each other frequently. An instance of such a connection is Renee Gladman’s novel “The Activist” in which she creates her writing in terms of only receiving the story through the thoughts, actions, and conversations of the characters. This element only emphasizes the high level of political charge present through the opinions and emotions of the protagonists. In my reading of Gladman’s book however, I found it difficult to think along the same lines as the characters due to differences in political opinion.