Politics (novel) 1147274 135336698 2007-06-02T15:34:44Z David Gerard 36389 Removing redundant per [[Wikipedia:Spoiler]] - using [[Wikipedia:AWB|AWB]] {{infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = Politics | title_orig = | translator = | image = | author = [[Adam Thirlwell]] | cover_artist = | country = [[United Kingdom]] | language = [[English language|English]] | series = | genre = [[Novel]] | publisher = [[Jonathan Cape]] | release_date = 28 August 2003 | media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]]) | pages = 288 pp | isbn = ISBN 0-224-07104-1 (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-09-945902-7 (paperback edition) | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''''Politics''''' is a [[2003 in literature|2003]] novel by [[Adam Thirlwell]] about a father-daughter relationship and about a [[ménage à trois]] which includes said daughter and two of her friends. We are informed by the [[narrator]] that the novel is about "[[goodness and value theory|goodness]]". ==Plot summary== Nana, an attractive young "non-talker" in her mid-twenties&mdash;"tall, thin, pale, blonde, breasty"&mdash;who is working on her [[Master's degree|M.A.]] [[thesis]], lives with her "Papa", the "benevolent angel" of the story, in [[Edgware]], a suburb of [[London]]. She gets to know Moshe, a young [[Jewish]] actor from [[Finsbury]], and they start a relationship. As time goes by, [[Anjali]], a friend of Moshe's, joins them more and more in their sparetime activities until Nana, for whom [[sex]] is not necessarily a top priority, suggests a "threesome" because she wants Moshe to be happy. Accordingly, due to Nana's [[altruism]], for some months Nana and Moshe are joined in their lovemaking by Anjali, who is [[bisexuality|bisexual]]. The narrator, who defines a threesome as "the [[socialist]] [[utopia]] of sex", describes not only the sociology, psychology and ethics of their ménage à trois (for example by comparing it to the love triangle depicted in the film ''[[Cabaret (film)|Cabaret]]'') but also, in some detail, the technicalities and what he calls "sexual [[etiquette]]". However, he also frequently ponders philosophical questions and occasionally redefines old concepts such as that of [[infidelity]] ("the selfish desire to be helpful to more than one person"). In the summer Nana goes on holiday with her Papa, leaving behind two thirds of the ménage à trois. In [[Venice]], [[Italy]], Papa complains of a splitting [[headache]], and shortly after their return to England he suffers a [[cerebrovascular accident|stroke]]&mdash;a good excuse for Nana to break up with both Moshe and Anjali, although her father is saddened by the thought of his daughter giving up her boyfriend on his account. ==Characters in "Politics"== *Nana &ndash; protagonist *Papa &ndash; Nana's father *Moshe &ndash; a Jewish actor *Anjali &ndash; a bisexual ==Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science== The ramblings of the narrator and Nana's interest in [[architecture]] lead to an impressive list of famous people being mentioned in the pages of ''Politics''. Some are just briefly referred to, others are presented by means of an [[anecdote]] proving a point the narrator is trying to make. They include, in alphabetical order, [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], [[Nikolai Bukharin]], [[Mikhail Bulgakov]], [[Antonio Gramsci]], [[Václav Havel]], [[Rem Koolhaas]], [[Milan Kundera]], [[Osip Mandelstam]], [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]], [[Issey Miyake]], [[Józef Rotblat]], [[Jonathan Sacks]], [[Elsa Schiaparelli]], [[Oscar Wilde]], and [[Mao Zedong]]. When rendering spoken language ('''see''' [[Estuary English]]), Thirlwell time and again uses [[pronunciation respelling]]. Accordingly, he has the protagonists say things like ''akshully'', ''arkitetcha'', ''fra bit'', ''frages'' (= for ages), ''I dint say'', ''I spose'', ''internaschnal'', ''keemo'' (= [[chemotherapy|chemo<nowiki>[therapy]</nowiki>]]), ''Le mgo'', ''Not tonigh'', ''refyoose'', ''restron'', ''snot'' (= it is not), and ''therpy''. ==External links== * [http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popgb/thirlwa.htm#ours A Review Of ''Politics''] (with links to further reviews) [[Category:2003 novels]] [[Category:British novels]]