The Contribution of Marxism in Literary Criticism
THE CONTRIBUTION OF MARXISM TO THE STUDY OF LITERARY CRITICISM
It is evident that Marxism has made great contribution in the study and criticism of Literature, there is need to explain a little bit on Marxism before we discuss its contribution.
Marxism is a social and political theory based on the works of Karl Marx and his followers, associated with the socialist and communist movements, these works mainly are Manifesto of the Communist Party and the German Ideology.
It should be understood that Marx never formulated a complete literary or aesthetic theory, but he laid down the foundation to the emergence of Marxist literary critics, to mention only few ideas which we think are very important in the study and criticism of literature are:
The history of any society is characterized by the history of the class and class struggle,that means oppressor and oppressed always are in constant opposition.
The ruling class or those who own capital tends to perpetuate self interests and exploitation, with the help of ideological instruments and coercive instruments, all these make possible the maintenance of the status qua.
Necessity of violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie for the sway of proletariat, this means that, proletariat can take power only through the use of force and not through peaceful means, therefore the oppressed people should get prepared for the revolution which need to be carried out by themselves.
Law, morality and religion for Marx, are so many bourgeoisie prejudices behind which hark in ambush just as many bourgeoisie interests, therefore all these are should not be trusted at all,and once the working class takes an upper hand are to make sure all these are destroyed.
Another idea is concerned with the role of ideology, as for him ideology is made of false consciousnesses and its role is to disguise the realities in the society. The ruling class control the means of production and superstructure, so the ideology is made to work on the ruling
It is evident that Marxism has made great contribution in the study and criticism of Literature, there is need to explain a little bit on Marxism before we discuss its contribution.
Marxism is a social and political theory based on the works of Karl Marx and his followers, associated with the socialist and communist movements, these works mainly are Manifesto of the Communist Party and the German Ideology.
It should be understood that Marx never formulated a complete literary or aesthetic theory, but he laid down the foundation to the emergence of Marxist literary critics, to mention only few ideas which we think are very important in the study and criticism of literature are:
The history of any society is characterized by the history of the class and class struggle,that means oppressor and oppressed always are in constant opposition.
The ruling class or those who own capital tends to perpetuate self interests and exploitation, with the help of ideological instruments and coercive instruments, all these make possible the maintenance of the status qua.
Necessity of violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie for the sway of proletariat, this means that, proletariat can take power only through the use of force and not through peaceful means, therefore the oppressed people should get prepared for the revolution which need to be carried out by themselves.
Law, morality and religion for Marx, are so many bourgeoisie prejudices behind which hark in ambush just as many bourgeoisie interests, therefore all these are should not be trusted at all,and once the working class takes an upper hand are to make sure all these are destroyed.
Another idea is concerned with the role of ideology, as for him ideology is made of false consciousnesses and its role is to disguise the realities in the society. The ruling class control the means of production and superstructure, so the ideology is made to work on the ruling
References: Eagleton,T.(1997),Literary Theory:An Introduction,oxford:Blackwell Publisher Ltd Rice,P. And Patricia, W.(eds.) (2001), Modern Literary Theory : A Reader,Easton Road-London: H odder Headline Group. Riv-kin, J.and Ryan, M.(1998),Introduction: “Formalism” In Riv-kin, J. and Ryan,M.(eds)Literary Theory: An Anthology,USA:Blackwell Publishers. Literary Criticism(2009). In Encyclopedia Britannica.2009.Encyclopedia Britannica Online retried on11, November 2009