What is Marxist Literary Criticism

Marxist criticism is an approach of literary criticism based on the political and economic theories of Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher, and his fellow-thinker Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), a German sociologist. It interprets literary work asboth a reflection and a product of economic conflict between the social classes. The basic assumption of this criticism is that those who control the economy of the society and also control and influence its culture and intellectual products. This  criticism roots in the analysis of Karl Marx’s Base Structure/ Superstructure Model, Materialistic interpretation of History (Dialectic Materialism), Ideology, Hegemony  etc.Now we will try to have a brief look at, how it develops, what is the basic concept of itand how it is related to literature in our following discussion. 
   
To define the term “Marxist criticism” is very difficult as Marx and Engels themselves did not put forward any comprehensive theory of literature.“They themselves called their economic theories 'Communism' (rather than 'Marxism'), designating their belief in the state ownership of industry, transport, etc., rather than private ownership. 

Marx notices that all societies are arranged in such a way that a large group of works does the labour of production while a small group of owners reaps the benefit and accumulates wealth. Marx theorized that when profits are not reinvested in the workers but in creating more factories, the workers will grow poorer and poorer. This unequal distribution of wealth results a conflict between the owners and the labourers.As a result, we see that the history of humanity is the history of class struggle. So Marx and Engels announced the advent of Communism aiming:

“…to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange”  

And through the theories of class struggle, politics and economics, Marxist literary criticism emerged. 

Now we will observe the history development of Marxist Criticism.  

Although Marx and Friedrich Engels detailed theories of Socialism in the mid-nineteenth century, it was not until the 1920s that Marxist Literary Theory was systematized. The greatest impetus for this standardization came after the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia. The event prompted a change in belief around socialist ideals in government and society. While these ideals developed, socialist realism was accepted as the highest form of literature – a theory based on an art movement that depicted and glorified the proletariat’s struggle towards societal progress. These ideas guided both literary creation and official literary criticism in Russia, where works focused on the lives of the different classes. Thus, Marx’s theories intertwined expertly with the emerging ideologies of the new Russian movement and spread throughout the world.

The basic structure means the means of production such as land, labour, capital and organization. The basic structure, according to Marx, is the economic system on which the superstructure rests.  All cultural activities,such as philosophy or literature, belong in the superstructure. To Marxist critics, a society's economic base determines the interests and styles of its literature.

Materialistic interpretation of history,one of the recurrent terms in Marxist literary criticism, suggests that all the previous history is the history of class struggle.  Marx and Engels use Hegel's theory of dialectic which suggests that history progresses through the resolution of contradictions within a particular aspect of realityand provides a materialist account of history that focuses upon the struggles and tensions within society.

Ideology, a very important fact in Marxist literary criticism,suggeststhe shared ideas, values, and feelings through which individuals experience their societies.  Literature, as a cultural production, is a form of ideology, one that legitimizes the power of the ruling class.Marx believes that as the superstructure is determined by the base, it inevitably supports the ideologies of the base. In the eighteenth century, for example, literature was used by the English upper classes both to express and transmit the dominant value systems to the lower classes.

Hegemony, another important matter in Marxist criticism, "refers to the pervasive system of assumptions, meanings, and values, the web of ideologies.In other words, it is what that shapes the way things look, what they mean, and therefore what reality is for the majority of people within a given culture" In a way, Gramsci's notion of hegemony is a continuation of the concepts behind ideology.

Louis Althusser, French theorist, suggests that ideology and hegemony, like literature, present a constructed version of reality, one which does not necessarily reflect the actual conditions of life. Thus, literature neither merely reflects ideology, nor can it be reduced to it. Literature may be situated within ideology, but it can also distance itself from ideology. So, literature itself cannot change society but it can be an active part of such changes.

Marxism, in addition to being the guiding principle behind most literary works in communist and socialist Russia,greatly influenced many Western writers. Richard Wright, Claude McKay, Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and James Joyce were deeply influenced by Marxist and socialist theories of the day, and much of this type of reflection is evident in their writings of the time.

Marxist literary critics tend to look for tensions and contradictions issuing from grasping power and moneywithin literary works. This is appropriate because Marxism was originally formulated to analyze just such tensions and contradictions within society.They explore ways in which the text reveals ideological oppression of a dominant economic class over subordinate classes. In order to do this a Marxist might ask the following questions:Does the text reflect or resist a dominant ideology? Does it do both? Does the main character in a narrative affirm or resist bourgeosie values? Whose story gets told in the text? Are lower economic groups ignored or devalued?Are values that support the dominant economic group given privilege?

Marxist literary criticism often shares with feminist criticism a desire to challenge the power structures in contemporary society. For feminist, the issue is a marginalized gender; for Marxists, the issue is not gender but economic power, leading to political power.In fact, it is possible to make a rough comparison between the Marxist model of base and superstructure and the Freudian model of unconscious and conscious.

To conclude our discussion we must say that Marxist literary criticism emerging from the political and economic theories of Karl Marx has become an important form of social and historical study of literature. It seeks to analyse

the contradictions issuing from power and money within literary works and concerns itself not with what the text says but what it hides like psychoanalytical, feminist, and cultural criticism.

Ref.

Cuddon, J.A.  The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, London: Penguin Books, 1999.

Ryan, Michael. Literary Theory: A Practical Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, Texas: Harcourt Inc, 1999.

Peter Barry, Beginning Teory, An Introduction to Literary And Cultural    Theory, New York: Manchaster University Press, 2002,

Eagleton, T, Marxism and Literary Criticism, Berkeley, U of California P, 1976.

Hobsbawm, E.J, The Age of Capital, Charles Scribner’s 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.

This paper is prepared for you by Talim Enam, BA (Hons), MA in English.

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