Writing Revolution: Representation, Rhetoric, and Revolutionary Politics

How do the commitments of the revolutionary and the artistic aspirations of the writer fit together? Using literary texts from French, German, Russian and American pro-revolutionary writers, Sheila Delany examines the dialectic of politics and rhetoric, aesthetic and social conviction.

In Writing Revolution we are introduced to writers who truly gave voice to the hopes of their time. Some were leaders who fanned the flames in person as well as through their writings; others played less prominent roles but also helped build movements. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Luxemburg, Mao, Sylvain Maréchal, Boris Lavrenov, Bertolt Brecht and others all make their appearances: consummate rhetoricians all; not necessarily on the same page politically but all active boosters of the revolutions of their day.