Marxist literary criticism
The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
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2003
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© The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 2003, originally published by Oxford University Press 2003. (Hide copyright information)
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Marxist literary criticism, a critical tradition that seeks to understand literature from the perspective of the ‘historical materialism’ developed by
Marx and
Engels; that is, as a changing form of material production that participates in and illuminates the processes of history. Marx himself was deeply versed in world literature, and drew upon his favourite authors (
Aeschylus, Shakespeare,
Goethe) even in his economic writings. Neither he nor Engels, though, bequeathed a critical or aesthetic theory, but they suggested that authors such as
Balzac who held conservative political views could nonetheless, as artists, reveal the true tendencies of history, and more convincingly than socialist writers of a propagandist type; and further, that art is not tied directly to phases of economic development but has a certain autonomy. These principles are upheld in ‘classical’ Marxism, by G. Plekhanov (1856–1918), Lenin, Trotsky, and
Lukács. Of these writers, it was Lukács who eventually developed a consistent Marxist critical position, one that stressed the value of 19th-cent.
realism. In the Soviet Union under the tyranny of Stalin, the crudely prescriptive policy of
Socialist Realism obstructed more independent critical thinking, except in the little-known
Bakhtin circle.
The first significant Marxist criticism in the English-speaking world emerged within the doctrinaire constraints of Communist Party orthodoxy: Granville Hicks (1901–82) in the USA and the more imaginative
Caudwell in England assessed literature in terms of its usefulness as a weapon in the class struggle. The German Marxists
Benjamin and
Brecht provided far more sophisticated and influential views, seeing literature less as a ‘reflection’ of history than as a ‘production’ of new meanings. Brecht's influence has been strong upon
Barthes and other critics who have brought about alliances among Marxist,
formalist, and post-
structuralist literary theory, usually of a kind that regards realism as inherently conservative. In the English-speaking world since 1968, the foremost Marxist critics have been R.
Williams, Terry Eagleton (1943– ), whose work has approached literature through the contradictions of ‘ideology’, and Fredric Jameson (1934– ), who has developed from Lukács's work a broader system for the analysis of literary and cultural forms. Resisting the assumption that Marxist criticism is pertinent only to overtly ‘sociological’ features of literature, Eagleton and Jameson have both employed its methods to illuminate general problems of literary theory and the phenomenon of
postmodernism.
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A clear advantage?: Granville bottler of mineral water taps interest in healthful products.
Newspaper article from: Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, OH); 7/8/2006; 700+ words
; ...Margaret Harding Jul. 8--GRANVILLE, Ohio -- Claude Hicks says his water, which he transfers...by the caseful, actually." Hicks discovered the artesian well on his 43-acre property in Granville in 1972, but waited to market...
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Couple uncorks new Cider House in Granville.
Newspaper article from: Post-Star (Glen Falls, NY); 6/28/2007; 700+ words
; ...Byline: Erin Demuth Jun. 28--GRANVILLE -- It may sound cliche, but...a new hard cider business at Hicks Orchard in Granville. It's called Slyboro Cider...said Knapp, who co-owns Hicks Orchard with Wilson. "We rely...
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Hicks debate presentation is Tuesday.(Travel-Books)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 1/16/2005; 413 words
; A free hourlong presentation on Granville Hicks and a famous 1946 debate in which...WRGB Ch. 6, which televised it. Hicks debated Charles Jackson, author...introduction to the new edition of Hicks' "Small Town," will lead the...
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40 under forty: Jay Hicks
Magazine article from: Indianapolis Business Journal; 4/19/1999; ; 554 words
; JAY HICKS, 36 President and CEO Prime Care Properties When Jay Hicks was the top health care analyst with a Boston...the future as every day being the same," says Hicks, a native of Granville, Ohio, and graduate of the MBA program at Boston...
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STATE TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS : GRANVILLE BREAKS 800 RECORD; SANTIN QUALIFIES.(SPORTS)
Newspaper article from: Daily News (Los Angeles, CA); 6/1/1996; 700+ words
; ...Championships at Cerritos College. Granville, a senior headed to UCLA...Ironically, Strutzel was in Granville's heat on Friday, but he had little chance as Granville opened the first 400 meters...Littlerock's Cheree Hicks (discus/shot put...
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A RURAL PROPHET GETS HIS JUST DUE.(CAPITAL REGION)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 10/13/2004; 700+ words
; ...lifestyle that inspired Granville Hicks in 1946 to write...rural life and what Hicks thought was good about...HIS HONOR What: ``Granville Hicks, Champion of...FAMILY ONE EXPERIENCE Granville Hicks learned in Grafton in...
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Willa Cather and Material Culture: Real-World Writing, Writing the Real World.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Hollins Critic; 10/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...Press, 2005. $37.50 In 1933, Granville Hicks published what was perhaps the...uttered more than seventy years ago, Granville Hicks's disparaging remarks about...Cather criticism that challenges Granville Hicks' now-notorious observation...
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SUMMARIES.(Sports)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 9/13/2009; 700+ words
; ...1-13, Parmenter 1-4. GRANVILLE 34, MECHANICVILLE 20 Granville 6 8 12 8--34 Mechanicville...Campbell 11 pass from Jamie Hicks (pass failed) Second quarter...INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING--Granville, Osborne 20-113, Bessett...
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Paradise lost.(Travel-Books)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 1/16/2005; 700+ words
; ...FELIX CARROLL Staff Writer Even Granville Hicks never could have imagined the edgeless...upon the landscape. Nor could Hicks have imagined how this shoe, this...wonderful book, an intimate book." "Granville Hicks was really the person who...
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RPI OBSERVATORY OPENS.(CAPITAL REGION)(Correction notice)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 4/18/2001; 700+ words
; ...found at: http:www.ggw.org/selene/. Granville Hicks program GRAFTON -- Granville Hicks, a longtime Grafton resident and internationally...honored on Saturday, May 12. The event, ``Granville Hicks and Rural Rensselaer County'' will feature...
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Granville Hicks
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Granville Hicks 1901-82, American writer, b. Exeter, N.H. A member of the Communist party, he edited The New Masses and wrote a pioneering...
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Hicks, Granville
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to American Literature
Hicks, Granville (1901–82), born in New Hampshire, graduated from Harvard (1923), wrote Eight Ways of Looking at Christianity...
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Lincoln Steffens
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...would indicate. Interesting insights can be gleaned from The Letters of Lincoln Steffens, edited by Ella Winter and Granville Hicks (2 vols., 1938). A useful collection of many of his articles is The World of Lincoln Steffens, edited by
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Marxist literary criticism
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
...criticism in the English-speaking world emerged within the doctrinaire constraints of Communist Party orthodoxy: Granville Hicks (1901–82) in the USA and the more imaginative Caudwell in England assessed literature in terms of its...
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Cather, Willa
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to United States History
...1920s, but in the 1930s, when left‐wing critics favored socially conscious fiction, she was attacked by Granville Hicks and others for “escapism.” But she never lost her wide readership, and by the 1990s she was...
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