Marxist Literary Theory: A Comprehensive Guide
Chapter 8: Marxism
Key Figures and Concepts
Thinkers and Writers
- Karl Marx
- Henry David Thoreau (Walden)
- Georg Lukacs & Antonio Gramsci (Marxist Theoreticians)
- James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, William Faulkner, Samuel Beckett (Modernist Fiction, Ulysses & The Sound and the Fury)
- Sir Walter Scott, Stendhal, Honore de Balzac (Realist Novels)
- Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Jurgen Habermas (The Frankfurt School)
- Louis Althusser (Ideology & Ideological State Apparatuses, 1970) – French Marxist
Core Ideas
Marxism, from a materialist perspective, views the world as composed of tangible elements like food and shelter, rather than abstract concepts like beauty or truth. This perspective emphasizes the idea that life shapes consciousness, not the other way around. Therefore, the material, economic realm is seen as the base, with all other aspects of society forming a superstructure influenced by that base. This concept, where economics is seen as the root cause of all else, is known as economic determinism or economism.
As societies evolved and people collaborated to produce necessities, they established a division of labor, leading to distinct classes with conflicting interests. The bourgeoisie, owning the means of production, exploited the working class, known as the proletariat.
Marx viewed capital not merely as money exchanged for goods, but as a tool used by capitalists to acquire labor and generate profit. This exploitation of labor for profit is central to Marxist critique.
Dialectical materialism, a key concept, describes the interplay of contradictory arguments and economic forces that drive societal change. This dynamic, particularly the tension between classes and their ideologies, is central to Marxist thought.
Marxist Literary Criticism
Contemporary Marxist criticism often focuses on interpreting culture through a Marxist lens, analyzing how literature reflects and engages with power structures, class struggles, and ideological forces. While not always directly advocating for revolution, Marxist critics remain conscious of the potential for social change and critique capitalist systems.
Key Concepts in Marxist Literary Analysis
- Alienation & Commodification: Under capitalism, workers experience alienation as they are separated from the products of their labor. This detachment is exacerbated by commodification, where objects hold exchange value in the market rather than use value for the worker. This focus on exchange value fuels a commodity fetish, driving a desire for more goods and perpetuating the cycle of alienation.
- Social Realism: This literary movement explicitly portrays the lives and struggles of the working class, often with a hopeful outlook on their future under communism.
- Reification: This concept describes how commodification reduces human relationships, ideas, and individuals to mere things, further intensifying alienation.
- The Frankfurt School: This group of thinkers, including Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, and later Jurgen Habermas, examined the relationship between reason, art, modernism, and public discourse. They sought to understand how capitalist ideology hinders revolutionary consciousness, focusing on culture and the superstructure rather than solely on economic determinism.
- Public Sphere: Jurgen Habermas, valuing Enlightenment rationality, proposed the concept of the public sphere, a space for open dialogue and debate between the state and civil society. This sphere, he argued, offered a vital alternative to the fragmentation of modern life and art.
- Contemporary Marxism: Modern Marxist thought critically examines the traditional base/superstructure model, acknowledging that while Marx proposed this framework, he also sought more nuanced understandings of the relationship between economics and culture. This perspective recognizes that the superstructure, while influenced by the base, is not merely a direct reflection of it.
- Ideology: Louis Althusser defined ideology as the “imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence.” This refers to the unconscious beliefs and assumptions that shape our understanding of the world, often masking the true nature of power relations.
- Interpellation: This mechanism perpetuates the existing system by “hailing” individuals into specific roles and identities. When we respond to these calls, we become subjects of interpellation, reinforcing the dominant ideology.
- Relative Autonomy: This concept suggests that the superstructure, while influenced by the base, possesses a degree of independence. This partial autonomy allows for the possibility of challenging and potentially changing the system, even if such change may not manifest solely through individualism.