Gone with the Wind

[Beet]

I read both this and Scarlett as a boy and enjoyed both. The novel is written to entertain, but it combines elements which when done well make for good fiction in general and which are also personal favorites- the historical grand sweep drama, taking the reader deep into what is essentially a foreign society, tragedy and revival, the coming of age tale. It combines both the intensely personal and the commanding heights of American history, doing each in a way that vividly entertains, irrespective of historical accuracy. And of course, it is famous. The focus on romantic relationships is more for the feminine taste, but intrigue among bachelors and wallflowers and maneuvering around the dinner party can be just as rich drama as the plottings of diplomats and the movements of armies, if one has an appreciation for the small (I assume most who are interested in politics already have an appreciation for the big). If the other elements of the novel (historical drama, exotic society, coming of age, tragedy, etc.) also stimulate you but you find the personal relationships are given too much space compared to potential political dramas, I would suggest Shogun, by James Clavell.

It was not until much later in life that I could see that a story centered on a strong female lead who finds instability and ultimate disappointment in her relationships with men but is forced to test herself against independence, and due to her strong personality succeeds in winning it (in contrast to the many weak, dependent men and women around her)- could be considered "feminist." And there may have been many other things in the novel that I am forgetting. I would not have patience for this novel today. But upon reflection, the frailty of Scarlett as a pampered southern woman was not only a necessary foil to her strong personality but essential in building up the dramatic precariousness of her situation; much as women are used today in horror movies (the difference being that Gone With the Wind is ultimately a vehicle for its protagonists, while horror movies are vehicles for the horror).

I have not read The Klansman, and there are certainly parallels between the films that derive from the two novels that are notable without any contextual knowledge of the relationship between Thomas Dixon and Margaret Mitchell. It seems that the discussions of racism and historical inaccuracy are most valuable as a check to the naive reader who might take the depictions presented in the novel as accurate of reality or unaffected by racism; which may be the case for people who are exposed to the novel without context. I did not think the novel was written to perpetuate a racist ideology, rather it accepted the basic racist framework of the time it was written in and is written about.