SOURCE: “Satires on the Anthill and the Hive,” in Compton Mackenzie, Twayne Publishers, 1974, pp. 96-104.

In the following essay, Dooley examines the subject matter of Mackenzie's satirical, topical novels.

A traditional function of the writer of fiction has been to throw new light on questions of the day through imaginative treatment of them. Jonathan Swift ridicules the absurd predictions of the astrologer Partridge by foretelling the death of Partridge—and he follows it, at the appointed time, by an account of Partridge's sad ending; or he assumes the role of a Dublin drapier to oppose the patent given William Wood by the British Government to mint copper coins for Ireland. Charles Dickens hears accounts of the mistreatment of boys in Yorkshire schools, goes there himself to investigate, and writes Nicholas Nickleby. Upton Sinclair attacks the Chicago meat-packing industry in The Jungle; Frank Norris, the operations of grain speculators...