Marxist Literary Criticism

Historical Context
began with Karl Marx, 19th century German
philosopher best known for Das Kapital (1867),
the seminal work of the communist movement.
Marx was also the first Marxist literary critic,
writing critical essays in the 1830s on such
writers as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and
William Shakespeare.
 Definition
A sociological approach to literature that viewed
works of literature or art as the products of
historical forces that can be analyzed by looking
at the material conditions in which they were
formed.
 Key Ideas
What we think of as world view is actually the
product of the dominant class
Marxism generally focuses on the clash
between the dominant and repressed classes
 Key Terms
Commodification
Conspicuous consumption
Dialectical materialism
Material circumstances
Reflectionism
Superstructure
 Points to consider
Literature expresses the ideas, beliefs and
values of a culture
Literature of any significance actively engages
in controversy or argument
Literature reveals power struggles (sexual
power, economic power, social power, and so
on) and how this operates and with what
consequences
 Points to consider
Literature reveals how the author, reader, and
characters demonstrate an awareness or lack of
awareness of their economic and social
situations and what oppresses them
Literature and authors can manipulate readers
into sympathizing with rather than critiquing
the dominant (and oppressive) social order.
 Strengths
Encourages a careful reading of the text
Doesnt limit reader to view text in isolation
 Weaknesses
Only examines limited aspect of text
Some people feel threatened by the focus on
ideology
Dismisses the beauty of writing and does not
allow reader to simply enjoy tex
 Testers
Huckleberry Finn and Jim need to escape from
their homes in order to recognize the
oppressiveness of their lives
Three symbols represent youth and immaturity
in the story Groom Service are the drawing,
the beaver tail, and the eagle feather
 Testers
In David Frenchs play Leaving Home, Jacob,
Mary , and Kathy are unable to find true
happiness because of the limitations of their
economic situation
 Testers
The snowball incident at the start of Fifth
Business controls the lives of Dunstable
Ramsay, Percy Boyd Stanton, and Paul
Dempster
 Testers
Romeo and Juliet might have lived if they had
not been controlled by various societal
pressures.
 Applying this to a text
To what degree does the protagonist or other
characters believe in and live by the
prevailing social order?
At what point(s) do characters recognize the
oppressiveness of the prevailing social order?
How do they respond? What affects their
options for changing things?
How is social objectification evident and how
does it operate in the text?
What are the social forces that affect the
authors writing or the texts marketing and
reception?
the attitude of valuing things not for
their utility but for their power to
impress others or for their resale
possibilities
the obvious acquisition of things only for their
sign value and/or exchange value
the theory that history develops neither in a
random fashion nor in a linear one but instead as
struggle between contradictions that ultimately find
resolution in a synthesis of the two sides. For
example, class conflicts lead to new social systems
the economic conditions underlying the society. To understand
social events, one must have a grasp of the material
circumstances and the historical situation in which they occur
a theory that the superstructure of a society mirrors its
economic base and, by extension, that a text reflects
the society that produced it
The social, political, and ideological systems and
institutions--for example, the values, art, and legal
processes of a society--that are generated by the base