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.
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.
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