-
Marxist Literary Criticism
Marxist
literary
criticism
is
a
loose
term
describing
literary
criticism
based
on
socialist
and
dialectic
theories.
Marxist
criticism
views
literary
works
as
reflections
of
the
social
institutions
from which they
originate. According to Marxists, even literature
itself is a social institution and
has
a specific ideological function, based on the
background and ideology of the author.
The English literary critic and
cultural theorist, Terry Eagleton, defines Marxist
criticism this way:
Mar
xist
criticism is not merely a ?sociology of
literature?
, concerned with how novels
get
published and whether they mention
the working class. Its aim is to explain the
literary
work more fully; and this
means a sensitive attention to its forms, styles
and meanings.
But it also means
grasping those forms, styles and meanings as the
product of a particular
history.
[1]
The
simplest
goals
of
Marxist
literary
criticism
can
include
an
assessment
of
the
political
?tendency?
of
a
literary
work,
determining
whether
its
social
content
or
its
literary
form
are
?progressive?
. It also
includes analysing the class constructs
demonstrated in the literature.
According to Marxists, and to other
scholars in fact, literature reflects those social
institutions
out
of
which
it
emerges
and
is
itself
a
social
institution
with
a
particular
ideological
function.
Literature
reflects
class
struggle
and
materialism:
think
how
often
the
quest
for
wealth
traditionally
defines
characters.
So
Marx
ists
generally
view
literature
“
not
as
works
created
in
accordance
with
timeless
artistic
criteria,
but
as
'products'
of
the
economic
and
ideological
de
terminants specific to
that era”
[2]
.
Literature reflects an author's own class or
analysis of class
relations, however
piercing or shallow that analysis may be.
The Marxist critic simply
is a careful reader or viewer who keeps
in mind issues of power and
money, and
any of the following kinds of questions:
?
?
?
?
?
What role does class play in the work;
what is the author's analysis of class relations?
How do characters overcome
oppression?
In
what
ways
does
the
work
serve
as
propaganda
for
the
status
quo;
or
does
it
try
to
undermine
it?
What
does
the
work
say
about
oppression;
or
are
social
conflicts
ignored
or
blamed
elsewhere?
Does
the
work
propose
some
form
of
utopian
vision
as
a
solution
to
the
problems
encountered in the work?
History
Karl
Marx is often heralded as a founder of socialism
and his studies have provided a basis for
much in socialist theory and research.
Marx and Friedrich Engels collaborated to produce
a range
of publications based on
capitalism, class struggles and socialist
movements.
These theories and
ideologies can be found within three published
works:
?
?
?
The
Communist
Manifesto
(1848)
Preface to
the Contribution to the Critique of Political
Economy
(1859)
Das
Kapital
or
Capital
(1867)
The first publication
Communist Manifesto
(1848) argues that ?the history of all
hitherto existing
societies
is
the
history
of
class
struggle?.
[3]
As
class
struggle
is
the
engine
room
of
history,
to
understand
the
course
of
history,
one
must
analyse
the
class
relations
that
typify
different
historical epochs, the antagonisms and
forms of class struggle embodied in such class
relations.
This involves the
development of class consciousness and follows the
revolutionary movements
that
challenge
the
dominant
classes.
It
extends
to
rating
the
success
of
these
revolutions
in
developing new modes of production and
forms of social
organization.
[4]
In
contrast
to
the
Manifesto
,
Preface
to
the
Contribution
to
the
Critique
of
Political
Economy
(1859), and
Das
Capital
(1867) focus on the unfolding
logic of a system, rather than class struggle.
These provide an alternative account of
historical development and emphasize the self-
destructive
contradictions
and
law
of
motion
of
specific
modes
of
production.
[5]
The
Preface
argues
that
society?s
economic
organization
consists
of
a
distinctive
pattern
of
forces
and
relations
of
productions.
From
this
foundation
arises
a
complex
political
and
ideological
superstructure,<
/p>
[6]
where economic
development impacts upon societal progress.
Das 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?.
[7]
Capital
was less concerned
with forecasting
how
capitalism
would
be
overthrown,
than
considering
how
it
had
developed
and
how
it
functioned.
[8]
The key to unders
tanding this logic was
the ?commodity? form of social relations
–
a
form that was most fully
developed only in capitalism.
Ideologies
It is through the
theories of class struggle, politics and economics
that Marxist literary criticism
emerged. The thought behind Marxist
Criticism is that
works of literature
are
mere products of
history
that can be analysed by looking at the social and
material conditions in which they were
constructed.
[9]
Marx?s
Capital
,
stat
es
that,
?
the
mode
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
cons
ciousness.?
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.
Development of Marxist
Criticism