Marxist Literary Criticism

Marxist literary criticism
Marxist literary criticism is a loose term describing

Preface to the Contribution to the Critique of Political
literary criticism based on socialist and dialectic theoEconomy (1859)
ries. Marxist criticism views literary works as reections
Das Kapital or Capital (1867)
of the social institutions from which they originate. According to Marxists, even literature itself is a social institution and has a specic ideological function, based on The rst publication Communist Manifesto (1848) argues
the background and ideology of the author.
that the history of all hitherto existing societies is the his[2]
The English literary critic and cultural theorist, Terry Ea- tory of class struggle. As class struggle is the engine
room of history, to understand the course of history, one
gleton, denes Marxist criticism this way:
must analyse the class relations that typify dierent historical epochs, the antagonisms and forms of class strugMarxist criticism is not merely a 'sociology of
gle embodied in such class relations. This involves the
literature', concerned with how novels get pubdevelopment of class consciousness and follows the revolished and whether they mention the working
lutionary movements that challenge the dominant classes.
class. Its aim is to explain the literary work
It extends to rating the success of these revolutions in demore fully; and this means a sensitive attention
veloping new modes of production and forms of social
to its forms, styles and meanings. But it also
organization.[3]
means grasping those forms, styles and meanIn contrast to the Manifesto, Preface to the Contribution
ings as the product of a particular history.[1]
to the Critique of Political Economy (1859), and Capital (1867) focus on the unfolding logic of a system,
The simplest goals of Marxist literary criticism can in- rather than class struggle. These provide an alternaclude an assessment of the political 'tendency' of a lit- tive account of historical development and emphasize
erary work, determining whether its social content or its the self-destructive contradictions and law of motion of
literary form are 'progressive'. It also includes analyzing specic modes of production.[4] The Preface argues that
the class constructs demonstrated in the literature.
societys economic organization consists of a distinctive
pattern of forces and relations of productions. From
this foundation arises a complex political and ideological
1 History
superstructure,[5] where economic development impacts
upon societal progress.
Karl Marx's studies have provided a basis for much in
socialist theory and research. Marxism aims to revolutionize the concept of work through creating a classless society built on control and ownership of the means
of production. Marx believed that Economic Determinism, Dialectical Materialism and Class Struggle were the
three principles that explained his theories. The Bourgeois (Dominant class who control and own the means
of production) and Proletariat (Subordinate class: Dont
own and control the means of production) were the only
two classes who engaged in hostile interaction to achieve
class consciousness. Marx believed that all past history
is a struggle between hostile and competing economic
classes in state of change. Marx and Friedrich Engels
collaborated to produce a range of publications based on
capitalism, class struggles and socialist movements.
Capital was more concerned with the genesis and dynamic of capitalism. As Mclellan (1971) states, it
refers to class struggle mainly in the context of the
struggle between capital and labour, within capitalism,
rather than over its suppression.[6] Capital was less concerned with forecasting how capitalism would be overthrown, than considering how it had developed and how
it functioned.[7] The key to understanding this logic was
the commodity form of social relations a form that was
most fully developed only in capitalism.
2 Ideologies
It is through the theories of class struggle, politics and

economics that Marxist literary criticism emerged. The
These theories and ideologies can be found within three thought behind Marxist Criticism is that works of literapublished works:
ture are mere products of history that can be analyzed by
looking at the social and material conditions in which they
The Communist Manifesto
were constructed.[8] Marxs Capital states that 'the mode
1
of production of material life determines altogether the

social, political, and intellectual life process. It is not the
consciousness of men that determines their being, but on
the contrary their social being, that determines their consciousness.' Put simply, the social situation of the author
determines the types of characters that will develop, the
political ideas displayed and the economical statements
developed in the text.
The Development of Marxist

criticism
EXTERNAL LINKS
6 Notes
[1] T Eagleton, Marxism and Literary Criticism, Berkeley, U
of California P, 1976
[2] Quoted Marx - W Duiker & J Spielvogel, The Essential World History, vol, II: since 1500, 3rd ed, Thomson
Higher Education, Belmont, 2008, p. 428
[3] D Mclellan, The Thought of Karl Marx, Macmillan Press,
London, 1971, p. 42
[4] R Stones, Key Sociological Thinkers, Macmillan Press,
London, 1998, p. 24
[5] D Mclellan, p. 124
Although Marx and Friedrich Engels detailed theories [6] As quoted in D Mclellan, p. 67
of Socialism in the mid-nineteenth century, it was not [7] I McIntosh, Classical Sociological Theory: A Reader, Eduntil the 1920s that Marxist Literary Theory was sysinburgh University Press, Great Britain, 1997, p. 73
tematized. The greatest impetus for this standardization
came after the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia. [8] K Siegel, Introduction to Modern Literary Theory,
viewed 15 March 2011, http://www.kristisiegel.com/
The event instigated a change in belief around socialist
theory.htm
[9]
ideals in government and society. While these ideals
developed, socialist realism was accepted as the highest [9] K Siegel
form of literature a theory based on an art movement
[10] K Siegel
that depicted and gloried the proletariats struggle towards societal progress. These ideas guided both liter- [11] K Siegel
ary creation and ocial literary criticism in the Soviet
[12] K Siegel
Union,[10] where works focused on the lives of the different classes. In the years since then, the beliefs of some
Marxist schools regarding literary theory have been modied to acknowledge that literary creation is a result of 7 References
both subjective inspiration and the objective inuence of
Duiker, W & Spielvogel, J, The Essential World Histhe writers surroundings.[11] This system of belief relies
tory, vol, II: since 1500, 3rd ed, Thomson Higher
on the social classes as well as the economic and politiEducation, Belmont, 2008.
cal development of society. Thus, Marxs theories intertwined expertly with the emerging ideologies of the new
Eagleton, T, Marxism and Literary Criticism,
Russian movement and spread throughout the world.
Berkeley, U of California P, 1976.
Writers inuenced by Marxist

criticism
In addition to being the guiding principle behind most literary works in communist and socialist Russia, Marxism
also greatly inuenced many Western writers. Richard
Wright, Claude McKay, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de
Beauvoir, and Bertold Brecht were deeply inuenced by
Marxist and socialist theories of the day, and much of
this type of reection is evident in their writings of the
time.[12]
See also
Cultural Marxism
Marxist aesthetics
Literature and Revolution
Hobsbawm, EJ, The Age of Capital, Charles Scribners Sons, New York, 1975.
McIntosh, I, Classical Sociological Theory: A
Reader, Edinburgh University Press, Great Britain,
1997.
Mclellan, D, The Thought of Karl Marx, Macmillan
Press, London, 1971.
Siegal, K, Introduction to Modern Literary Theory,
viewed 15 March 2011, http://www.kristisiegel.
com/theory.htm
Stones, R, Key Sociological Thinkers, Macmillan
Press, London, 1998.
8 External links
Marx and Engels on Literature and Art
The Georg Lukacs Internet Archive
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Marxist literary criticism

Marxist literary criticism is a loose term describing

It is through the theories of class struggle, politics and

of production of material life determines altogether the

The Development of Marxist

Writers inuenced by Marxist

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Marxist literary criticism Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist%20literary%20criticism?oldid=621762788 Contributors:

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

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