Reading Comprehension (RC) | Re: Indeed, the whole concept of politics changes during the latter half

Indeed, the whole concept of “politics” changes during the latter half of the twentieth century. Early on, United States politics in regard to literature was a more limited reflection of European dissatisfactions, played out in the inevitable, and usually clamorous, battles of “left” and “right.” In literary circles, the bleak influence of European existentialism changed the priorities of, particularly, drama, but also led to worldwide recognition of such fiction writers as William Faulkner, Nelson Algren, James Agee, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, and John Steinbeck. European opinion colored the critical reception of much United States writing.

By the later twentieth century, however, after the furor of the challenging 1960s rights movements in both race and gender, “politics” took on a much more inclusive definition. Rather than being rooted in governmental policies, it stemmed from the deepest dichotomy possible: that of the human being set in opposition to thenon-human.