'Beleaguered leader!' Mikhail Gorbachev in the world of thrillers (IANS Column: Bookends)

Literature, like all forms of cultural expression, cannot be immune to acquiring or displaying a political and ideological aspect, despite the professed intentions or protestations of its creators.

It may well be an unconscious impulse but the writers are directly or indirectly influenced by their socio-political millieu, even when opposing it, and you don't need to be a Marxist to acknowledge that.

As Edward Said showed in his examination of 'Orientalism', or recent works showcasing the overt or covert politics of such literary figures as William Wordsworth

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