Can someone please explain Marxist literary criticism to me please?

Question

Like, can you break it down for me? It's a bit confusing to me and I have to do a presentation on it.

Answer 1

Well...I can't give you enough info to do a presentation on it, but I just brushed up on literary criticism this summer, so I think I can help you.

Literary criticism is all about what you use to dissect the story. In the case of Marxist critics, you have two main factors: history and social classes. Marxists place a lot of importance on what was happening WHEN the book was written. What were the social conditions of the time? How might this have influenced the story?

The major thing, however, is examining the social classes of both the author and the characters. Were they bourgeois, proletariats? Rich, poor, rising, falling, controllers, controlled? What was the state of the government, and how does this effect the economic powers of the characters?

I actually did a Marxist criticism of a story a month ago, and I focused specifically on the transformation of the main character from a communal-tribal mindset into a bourgeois nobleman. It all depends on what you want to focus on.

Oh yeah, and there's a book by Terry Eagleton on literary criticism that I highly recommend you check out at your local library. It's absolutely briliant.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Marx wasn't a literary critic, but he did what novelists often do: interpret the way society works. His interpretation is largely based on economics and class. So Marxist literary criticism is criticism that breaks literature down into a series of economic and class issues.

Here's a cheap example:

A Marxist critic would see the Harry Potter series as an attempt to reinforce English middle class values by attaching the glamor and escapism of magic and fantasy to middle class institutions like prep schools.

Answer 3

basically, what people who disagree are saying is:

Yeah, it looks great on paper, everyone is equal and everyone's happy, but it would never work in the real world. It's just human nature to compete and want more, and that's impossible to suppress.