Marxist Criticism
An approach of literary criticism,
based on the economic and political theories of Karl Marx,
that interprets
a literary work as both a reflection and a product
of economic conflict between
the social classes. The basic assumption
of Marxist criticism is that those who
control a society's economy also
control or largely influence its cultural
and intellectual products.
Traditional Marxist critics such as Gyorgy Lukacs
and Lucien Goldman,
study the relationship between historical epochs and the
rise and
fall of certain literary forms -- for example, nineteenth-century
Realism or
seventeenth-century tragedy. Contemporary Marxists see literature,
as
well as history, as something that must be constantly rewritten to serve
current policy or needs.
People of the Movement
Gyorgy Lukacs
Althusser
Antonio Gramsci
Lucien Goldman
Related Movements
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