Theories of Marxism on Literature

The basic tenets of Marxism are no easier to summerize than the essential doctrines of Christianity, but two well-known statements by Marx provide a sufficient point of departure

It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.

The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.[1]

The Marxist critic believes that the only importance in a piece of literature lays in how it supports or attacks the socioeconomic structure.

[2]The one who started the Marxist critic is Karl Marx, he was an immensely influential German Jewish philosopher, political economist, and social revolutionary. He developed his system of thought in the 19th century in response to the Western industrial revolution and the rise of industrial capitalism as the predominant economic mode.

This theory of marxism is established because of there were some gap between bourgouis and proletariat, the bougouis opressed the proletariat. All of this oppression, according to Marx, causes tension between the classes, leading to cyclical oppression and revolution that can be observed throughout history. Marx recommended that societies overthrow their capitalist regimes and create a worker society in which the worker is recognized as central to the economy.

So How Does All of this Apply to Literary Criticism?

Simply Put, Marxist Literary Critics Apply the Insights of Marxism to Literature. But Marxism is a Political and Economic Theory… How Can It be Applied to  Literature?

To answer this question, we have to consider Marx’s concept of the base and superstructure.

Slavery and Base/Superstructure

All of the ideological institutions, such as organized religion, local and national politics, and art (especially literature), worked to uphold slavery as a good economic system. The bourgeouis drawing and redrawing of all these lines was a complex process.[3] Hence, the economic base of southern, slaveholding society determined its superstructure.

Marxist literary critics see literature as a social institution with with a particular ideological function. It participates in the struggles between oppressed and oppressing classes which makes up human history. All literature that expresses tension between opposing classes and their ideologies is ripe for Marxist analysis.

Questions Marxist Critics Ask about Literature

How are class differences presented in the work?

Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives?

How do economic conditions determine the characters’ lives?

Do characters overcome oppression in their lives? If so, how?

Does the work accurately reflect the socio-economic conditions of the time period being portrayed? [4]

In Raymond Williams’ Marxism and Literature, Part III, he explore about marxism and literature, he conceded that there are multiplicity of writing that caused by the burgouis for their intention. Aestethic according to him is a value that must be concluded in a medium, medium is not language medium is something like film or advertisement; language then is a constitutive element of material social practice. Thus languages are notation, it is can be written or spoken notation, and sign is arbitrary it can be anything that can be used as a medium for comunication.[5]

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[1] Selden, Ramden. A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1985.

[2] The drawing is from “marxist literary theory student copy.ppt”.

[3] Williams, Raymond. Marxism and Literatur. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

[4] “marxist literary theory student copy.ppt”.

[5] Williams, Raymond. Marxism and Literatur. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.