The Autobiography of Malcolm X is precisely what you’re asking for. It’s an important read but also just a fantastic read…like it’s genuinely very entertaining. It’s written verbatim from recording made by the transcriber within like a month of his death and it’s a full life story and although it’s a direct transcript, it’s very novelist anyway
Edit: strictly speaking though, no. There are biographical works that will involve theory and teach some. But strictly speaking, you’re not reading theory, you’re reading a biography. A text of political theory is the kind of text that doesn’t really have any characters. It’s kinda like asking for a math textbook with a main character.
That said, I struggled to understand Marx at first because I didn’t know who anyone was. It was all words and concepts. Then I read the first book in Isaac Deutscher’s trilogy on Trotsky and the first Fear of Mirrors novel by Tariq Ali. After that, I could picture a young Hegelian not as an abstract theoretician but as someone who thought a certain way and lived at a certain time. Made it all much easier and things flowed from there.
Hmmm… it’s been a long time since I read it. I wasn’t a Marxist at the time. Only interested. I knew very little truth about anything Marxism or Soviet Revolution/USSR. By the time I finished, I came away thinking that Trotsky was praiseworthy.
I confess to only reading the first book. The other two could paint a different picture.
Then again, it really was enough to get me to question everything I thought I knew about communism, the Soviets, and Marx/Marxism. So it didn’t leave me so enthralled to Trotsky that I couldn’t easily accept Marxism-Leninism once I read a broader range of texts.
Read as part of a balanced diet, I could still recommend it. If you’re already opposed to Trotskyism, try it out and put it down if it’s too sycophantic?
I’d still recommend it for those who need the characters to come alive to make the theoretical works more accessible. I guess it depends on the other influences on a person’s development. Left to think for themselves after sampling enough texts, it could work out well. Pushed into reading this or that by one of the myriad Trotsky orgs, they might be more easily led down some problematic paths.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is precisely what you’re asking for. It’s an important read but also just a fantastic read…like it’s genuinely very entertaining. It’s written verbatim from recording made by the transcriber within like a month of his death and it’s a full life story and although it’s a direct transcript, it’s very novelist anyway
Edit: strictly speaking though, no. There are biographical works that will involve theory and teach some. But strictly speaking, you’re not reading theory, you’re reading a biography. A text of political theory is the kind of text that doesn’t really have any characters. It’s kinda like asking for a math textbook with a main character.
That said, I struggled to understand Marx at first because I didn’t know who anyone was. It was all words and concepts. Then I read the first book in Isaac Deutscher’s trilogy on Trotsky and the first Fear of Mirrors novel by Tariq Ali. After that, I could picture a young Hegelian not as an abstract theoretician but as someone who thought a certain way and lived at a certain time. Made it all much easier and things flowed from there.
Is Deutscher’s trilogy on Trotsky still a good read for non-trot?
I always figured it was very trotty.
Hmmm… it’s been a long time since I read it. I wasn’t a Marxist at the time. Only interested. I knew very little truth about anything Marxism or Soviet Revolution/USSR. By the time I finished, I came away thinking that Trotsky was praiseworthy.
I confess to only reading the first book. The other two could paint a different picture.
Then again, it really was enough to get me to question everything I thought I knew about communism, the Soviets, and Marx/Marxism. So it didn’t leave me so enthralled to Trotsky that I couldn’t easily accept Marxism-Leninism once I read a broader range of texts.
Read as part of a balanced diet, I could still recommend it. If you’re already opposed to Trotskyism, try it out and put it down if it’s too sycophantic?
I’d still recommend it for those who need the characters to come alive to make the theoretical works more accessible. I guess it depends on the other influences on a person’s development. Left to think for themselves after sampling enough texts, it could work out well. Pushed into reading this or that by one of the myriad Trotsky orgs, they might be more easily led down some problematic paths.
Audiobook on TankieTube here
and it’s performed by laurence fishburne no less; i just prioritized this to the top my “reading” list and thank you for making me aware!
Damn! That’s a great choice