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Faculty Publications - Bryan Santin

March 14, 2022 - 1 minute read


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Did conservatives surrender highbrow fiction?

Bryan Santin, associate professor of English, had his first book published by Cambridge University Press in 2021.

In Postwar American Fiction and the Rise of Modern Conservatism: A Literary History, 1945-2008, Santin sought to explain why well-respected, politically conservative fiction of early twentieth century authors like T.S. Eliot and William Faulkner seemed to disappear later in the century, while liberal/ leftist literature, which bordered on propagandistic in the works of John Steinbeck and Sinclair Lewis, was elevated by academics and prize committees.

“My claim is that conservatives surrendered highbrow fiction to progressives and the liberal side of the spectrum, which is why is there no highbrow conservative fiction at end of the 20th century,” says Santin. “The vast majority of fiction being taught at universities and winning prizes is overwhelmingly liberal to progressive. Conservatives are self-selecting out of the institutions like prize committees and English departments which have a profound effect on the politics of literature.”

While politically conservative authors like Tom Wolfe, Flannery O’Conner and William F. Buckley wrote some influential novels and short stories, he argues. The landscape of recent conservative literary fiction is mostly barren—the province of authors of espionage and intrigue, like Tom Clancy, and socio-religious works like the Left Behind series.

Santin began the study as part of his PhD work at Notre Dame University. The book is “as dispassionate and objective as I can be,” he says, and is mainly being read by fellow academics for now. “They tell me it’s selling reasonably well,” he says. “The real test will be coming out with a paperback version which will be more reasonably priced.”

Read more about faculty publications at the Office of the Provost under Academic Accolades: 2021 Edition.

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