How to Read a Presidential Candidate
Digest
This podcast delves into the use of political memoirs and fictional narratives to understand the true selves of public figures. It examines how these works, despite attempts at sanitization, often reveal insecurities, fears, and ambitions, providing insights into the politician's character beyond their public persona. The episode explores the challenges of writing a novel about a real-life political figure, balancing the use of real events and characters with fictional elements to create a compelling narrative while respecting the privacy and complexities of the individual. The podcast also discusses the role of rhetoric in politics, its power to shape public opinion, and its potential for manipulation. Through interviews with novelists and experts, the episode highlights how fiction offers a unique perspective on political figures, exploring their inner lives and motivations in ways that traditional biographical or journalistic accounts may not.
Outlines
Political Memoirs and the Search for Truth
This episode explores the use of political memoirs as a tool to understand public figures. It discusses how these books, despite attempts at sanitization, often reveal insecurities, fears, and ambitions.
Glimpses into the True Selves of Presidential Candidates
This episode examines how voters seek to understand the true selves of presidential candidates through various means, including political memoirs, campaign speeches, and even personal anecdotes.
Imagining the Private Lives of Public Figures
This episode discusses the work of novelists who write fictionalized accounts of public figures, exploring their inner lives and motivations. It features an interview with Vincent Cunningham, a novelist who wrote a novel about a young man working on a presidential campaign, drawing parallels to his own experience working on Barack Obama's campaign.
Fictionalized Accounts of Public Figures
This episode delves into the work of Curtis Sittenfeld, a novelist who writes fictionalized accounts of public figures, exploring their inner lives and motivations. She discusses her novels "Rodham" and "American Wife," which explore the lives of Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush, respectively.
Keywords
Political Memoir
A written account of a politician's life and career, often offering insights into their personal beliefs, motivations, and experiences.
Rhetoric
The art of effective communication, particularly in public speaking, often used by politicians to persuade and inspire audiences.
Cognitive Dissonance
The mental discomfort experienced when holding two conflicting beliefs or ideas, often explored in the context of political figures and their public personas.
Archetype
A recurring pattern or model in literature, mythology, or psychology, often used to represent a specific type of character or personality, such as the "hero" or the "villain."
Alternate History
A genre of fiction that explores what might have happened if a significant historical event had occurred differently, often used to examine the consequences of political decisions.
Fictionalized Biography
A genre of fiction that explores the lives of real-life individuals, often using creative license to delve into their inner lives and motivations.
Q&A
How do political memoirs reveal the true selves of politicians?
Despite attempts at sanitization, political memoirs often reveal insecurities, fears, and ambitions, providing insights into the politician's character beyond their public persona.
What are the challenges of writing a novel about a real-life political figure?
Balancing the use of real events and characters with fictional elements to create a compelling narrative while respecting the privacy and complexities of the individual.
How does fiction offer a unique perspective on political figures?
Fiction allows for exploration of the inner lives and motivations of political figures, providing insights that may not be available through traditional biographical or journalistic accounts.
What is the role of rhetoric in politics?
Rhetoric plays a crucial role in politics, shaping public opinion, building coalitions, and inspiring action. However, it can also be used to manipulate and deceive, raising questions about its ethical implications.
How does the novel "Great Expectations" explore the complexities of political campaigns?
The novel uses the fictionalized campaign of a charismatic but remote candidate to examine the motivations and aspirations of those involved, highlighting the power dynamics and personal struggles within a political environment.
Show Notes
During election season, voters hope to glimpse the true selves of presidential candidates. And sometimes, revealing details hide in plain sight. On this week’s On the Media, one reporter sifts through political memoirs for truths about politicians and the people they lead. Plus, in vivid detail, a novelist imagines the private lives of former presidents.
[01:00 ] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Carlos Lozada, New York Times Opinion columnist and a co-host of the weekly “Matter of Opinion” podcast. Lozada explains how he mines political memoirs for deeper understanding of our political figures by examining what they include and what they omit.
[16:43 ] Brooke speaks with Vinson Cunningham, author of the novel Great Expectations. Cunningham, who is now a theater critic at The New Yorker, worked on the 2008 Obama campaign and later in the White House. Great Expectations is inspired by that time in his life and the difficult-to-read candidate for the presidency.
[35:05 ] Brooke interviews novelist Curtis Sittenfeld about her exploration of the minds of political figures through fiction, first in American Wife (inspired by Laura Bush) and next in Rodham, which considers what Hilary Clinton’s life would have looked like if she had never married Bill. They discuss the questions that led Sittenfeld to write those novels and why fiction based on real people makes readers so uncomfortable — especially the sex scenes.
This show originally aired on our May 3, 2024 program, How to Read a President, with Carlos Lozada, Vinson Cunningham, and Curtis Sittenfeld.
Further reading:
- The Washington Book by Carlos Lozada
- Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
- American Wife and Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
- Curtis Sittenfeld: ‘People misunderstood the sex scenes in Rodham’
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