Transcript Marxism and Marxist Literary Criticism

Marxism and Marxist
Literary Criticism
Literature in English
ASL
Introduction
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Any political practice or theory based on
an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels
Including Communist Parties and
Communist states
Characteristics of Marxism
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Attention to the material conditions of
people's lives, and lived relations among
people
People’s consciousness of the conditions
of their lives reflects these material
conditions and relations
“Social class" = differing relations to
production (a particular position within
such relations)
Characteristics of Marxism
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Material conditions and social relations:
historically malleable
View of history: class struggle (evolving
conflict between classes with opposing
interests) structures each historical period
A sympathy for the working class
The ultimate interests of workers best
match those of humanity in general
Characteristics of Marxism
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Workers' revolution: the means of
achieving human emancipation and
enlightenment
The actual mechanism through which such
a revolution might occur and succeed
Main Ideas in Marxism
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Means of production:
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A combination of the means of labor and the subject
of labor used by workers to make products
Means of labor = machines, tools, equipment,
infrastructure, and "all those things with the aid of
which man acts upon the subject of labor, and
transforms it"
Subject of labor = raw materials and materials
directly taken from nature
Means of production produce nothing
Labor power is needed for production to take place.
Main Ideas in Marxism
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Base and superstructure:
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Base: people with regard to “the social
production of their existence” forms the
economic basis
Superstructure: political + legal institutions +
religious, philosophical, and other ideas
The base conditions the superstructure and
the social consciousness
Reflexive: changes in one group often
influence the other
Main Ideas in Marxism
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Class consciousness:
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The self-awareness of a social class
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Its capacity to act in its own rational interests
Main Ideas in Marxism
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Ideology:
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Consciousness and perceptions within a
society
Often controlled by the ruling class
Determined according to what is in the ruling
class's best interests
Confuses the alienated groups
Creates false consciousness
Example: commodity fetishism (perceiving
labor as capital ~ a degradation of human life)
Main Ideas in Marxism
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Exploitation:
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Exploitation of an entire segment or class of society
by another
An inherent feature and key element of capitalism
and free markets
Profit gained by the capitalist = the value of the
product made by the worker + the actual wage that
the worker receives
Paying workers less than the full value of their labour
To enable the capitalist class to turn a profit
Class System in Marxism
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Identity of a social class: derived from its
relationship to the means of production
As opposed to the notion that class is
determined by wealth alone
Class System in Marxism
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The proletariat
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Individuals who sell their labour power
The bourgeoisie
Owns the means of production"
 Buys labour power from the proletariat
(recompensed by a salary)
 Exploits the proletariat
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Class System in Marxism
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The lumpenproletariat
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The Landlords
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Wealthy people owning pieces of land
Retaining their wealth and power
The Peasantry and Farmers
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Social scum: criminals, vagabonds, beggars
People with no stake in the economic system
Selling themselves to the highest bidder
Disorganized
Incapable of carrying out change
Disappearing: most becoming proletariat but some becoming
landowners
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=eMZRYMlv9tU
Marxist Literary Criticism
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A loose term describing literary criticism
informed by the philosophy or the politics of
Marxism
Terry Eagleton (Marxism and Literary Criticism,
1976)
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Not merely a 'sociology of literature', concerned with
how novels get published and whether they mention
the working class
Aim:
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To explain the literary work more fully
A ensitive attention to its forms, styles and meanings
Grasping those forms, styles and meanings as the product of
a particular history
Marxist Literary Criticism
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Goals:
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An assessment of the political "tendency" of a
literary work (determining whether its social
content or its literary form are "progressive“)
Applying lessons drawn from the realm of
aesthetics to the realm of politics
Marxist Film Theory
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Expressing ideas of Marxism through film
in terms of film editing, such as montage
Employing radical choice of subject matter,
as well as subversive parody, to heighten
class consciousness and promote Marxist
ideas
Marxist Film Theory
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Sergei Eisenstein:
 Shunning narrative structure by eliminating the
individual protagonist
 Telling stories where the action is moved by the group
 Story told through a clash of one image against the
next (whether in composition, motion, or idea)
 The audience is never lulled into believing that they
are watching something that has not been worked
over
Important works:
 Can dialectics break bricks? (1973)
 http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=6lEz5rye_U4
Thanks for your struggle
of attention!