hello and welcome to today's module on literary
theory and criticism in today's class in the
two modules that will be doing today will
be looking and marxism and marxist literary
criticism now marxism is basically a school
of thought that was found by founded by karl
marx and friedrich engels who where both germans
and their where contemporaries as well as
you can see from their respective time lines
marx lived between eighteen eighteen and eighteen
eighty three while engles ah lived in eighteen
twenty ah i mean lived between eighteen twenty
and eighteen ninety five though we might understand
marks to be philosopher today ah engles perhaps
be ah more or the lines of what do you would
call ah sociologist what would you understand
a contemporary sociologist to be
now even though they are both they are both
there are both german much of the workings
much of they collaborated writings ah happens
not when there were in germony but when they
were both exiles from germony and living in
england now marx was born as the sun of a
lawyer and like adjustment he ah lived as
spend much of his life in britten and much
powerty and an a exile from germony this was
fallowing the eighteen forty eight year of
revolution likewise ah engels left germony
in eighteen forty two as well where he worked
in his father's textile ah textile from which
was located in manchester now marxs and eangels
met each other after reading ah much of what
they had been writing much of their what much
of their writings that writings that your
contributing as articles in various journals
they came together and developed their theories
which they together called ah communism rather
then marxism as it is known today now communism
or marxism must they as as they ah understood
it had a firm belief in the state established
establish a firm belief in the state ownership
of industry transport etcetera this is this
is just to be understood a something that
is that lives in a position to ah a private
ownership and control and together marx and
engels jointly wrote their their seminal text
the communist manifesto which is published
in eighteen forty eight now as a philosophy
as a political philosophy marxism ends to
establish a classless society and a society
that it is based on the common ownership of
the means of production distribution and exchange
you will may you feel probably know that marxism
it is understood today as a as a materialistic
philosophy it is a materialistic philosophy
in that it seeks to explain phenomena natural
phenomena and social phenomena without really
bothering to assume an existence of another
world which is ah separate from the natural
world that surrounds us and access outside
around us therefore it looks for concrete
and scientific and logic explanation for the
events that are happening within the world
now as a as a school this this this philosophy
philoshy of materialism are oppose to what
we are in idealism which is basically reliance
on the existence of a spiritual world that
is located elsewhere and would offer for instance
ah you know offer to offer of explanations
about what what what what what what is to
do in life and its conduct in spiritual terms
and at this point i would like to remind you
about the famous marxian dictum that religion
is the opium of the people with this strongly
hints at the materialist ah bases of his philosophy
of their philosophy while other philosophies
basically try to understand the the world
it was marx who famously proclaimed or originally
that his intention was not to understand but
rather than to change it
thus marxism views a progress as something
that comes out through ah they struggle for
power between various social classes history
itself is thus seen as a as a product of class
struggle and something that is driven by the
competition for competition among various
social classes for economic social and political
advantage and dominion therefore and exploitation
of one class by another is is is is is another
strong concerns of marxism and marxism sees
this kind of an exploitation happening in
in as as following are following the modern
industrial revolution industrial industrial
capitalism itself especially in its nineteenth
century form in this context i would like
to draw your attention to what we understand
today as a process the phenomenon of workers
alienation workers alienation is seen by marxist
as a as a product of this very as a result
of this very exploitation of social classes
now what is alienation mean alienation simply
means that the workers perhaps in an industrial
sitting or in a factory ah experience what
is ah our work go through ah what is largely
a deskilled ah state in this state they largely
perform fragmented and repetitive tasks whose
purpose the worker himself would not really
fully comprehend now this is closely associated
with the idea of the the conveyor belt mechanism
that was introduced by in in infants factories
during the industrial revolution and what
happened what happened here is that the worker
becomes just nearly becomes another cog who
has to keep on repeating ah some kind of meaningless
task which doesn't in his understanding contribute
to the emergence of a finished product now
this needs to be contrasted with the the pre
industrial system of manufacture where in
a worker or someone who completed a finished
product and who are also perhaps in direct
contact with his customers through the sale
of this finished product
now this is something that has also been parodied
ah in the famous charlie chaplin film modern
times if you have seen the film if you are
aware of film you will recall how the character
played by the charlie chaplin is you known
engaged as a worker in a factory and throughout
his shift he has to keep on repeating ah a
particular kind of ah a physical ah chor and
he so attuned to this his so ah the the the
this process such ah so ritualized that even
men on his break he is unable to prevent his
body from teaching to the moments that he
is so used to now another term that is given
to us by the marxsis is something called called
reification reification comes to us from thus
capital which was published in eighteen sixty
seven and in a simple nutshell it basically
ah it it it concerns the process by which
people are basically simply terned into thing
we understand that according to the marxis
and model in capitalism goes or issues of
profit and loss become paramount and thus
in such a system workers are nearly reduce
to just a labour force unit in the the capitalist
machineory
thus in put simply in a nut shell in a word
people just become things and this is what
the term reification implies
now some of the earlier early influences on
marxism is perhaps the most important influences
perhaps that of a hegel hegel was in eighteen
centuray german philosopher who is massive
contributions major contribution to marxism
is is is is in the world dialectics that marxs
borrowed marxism borrpows from hegel now dialectics
is basically something that implies that opposing
ideas and forces can bring about a person
and conflict ideas and can bring about new
situations and new ideas marxism is also inspired
by the french a socialist idea from the times
of the french revolution itself if you call
the french revolution you will you will remember
that um some of the key ideas associated with
the french revolution is ideas of freedom
equality and fraternity marxism also represents
ah in invention of classic and early economics
theory
this theory maintenance that the the perceived
of individual economics self interest would
itself bring about economic and social benefits
to the entire society now this you will very
easily understand that this is basically the
underlying rational for the existence of capitalism
itself and this is something that marxism
sees to inverse now the simplest model by
the simple marxist model for the society is
basically the the base super structure model
which can be conceptualized though a pyramid
if we think of the base super structure model
you can think of it as a pyramid that is structure
this pyramid has an economic base which is
basically governed by the material means of
production distribution exchange etcetera
and it is on this base that the society the
society super structure relies on
the super structure is something that is something
that is seen as something that is determined
by the economic base and is represented by
ah areas such as art and culture law religion
etcetera now classic marxian theory tells
us that the superstructure that is is a shape
or determined by the nature of the base itself
now this is what we understand as the as the
as the principle of economic determinism and
this there is principal of economic determination
is a central idea of traditional marxian thoughtnow
with that we will now try to attempt to arrive
at a discussion of how marxist literary criticism
might operate it needs to be understood that
marx and engels themselves never really put
forward a company a comprehensive theory of
literature or the purpose of literature or
how it must function in this their views were
largely relaxed and perhaps not very dogmatic
they always ah allowed that good art always
had a degree of freedom from prevailing economic
circumstances and you can immediately seeing
how this might go against the idea of economic
determinism that we looked at just now for
example engles in letter through ah someone
known as margaret heartness that was that
he wrote in the in the in the e month of april
in eighteen eighty eight had this to say coat
far from finding fault with you for not having
written a point blank socialist novel the
more the opinions of the order remain hidden
the better the work of art becomes an court
now this is a direct quotes from engles himself
from where we can easily understand what his
ah rational what is opinion on art and literature
was however marxist literary criticism would
also maintain that a writer social class and
ideology which is to put put very simply his
factor of his outlook and his values have
measure bearing on what is written by that
member of that class which is to say in other
words that marxis critics this not see authors
or poets as somebody who are who is an inspired
an a autonomous creative genius who produces
original and timeless works of art
now this is something that you are recall
this is this is more or less the picture of
an artist that we get from the critics of
the romantic times marxist theories the argue
that artist are formed or they are webbed
and molded by their social context even if
they are not aware of it or even if they are
reluctant to admit it and this reflex not
only in the content of their works there there
ideology and their molded that their there
there social class finds expression not only
in the content of their works which is to
say the story and the plot and how the device
is function but interesting even in the form
that their works take up
now we use the term from here to include all
the conventional features of a work of art
for example in the realistic novel the form
would include perhaps the chronological time
schemes the formal beginnings and the ending
the in depth psychological characterization
the the interprete integrate plotting etcetera
for example something that can be easily decent
in the works of someone like ah say thomas
hardy or amezola thus going by this logic
the fragmented are the absurd is forms of
drama and fiction that were used by the twentieth
century writers like samuel beckett and france
cafca or seen as a responds by seen as a response
to the contradictions and demission that are
inherent in the late capitalist socity itself
by marks in critics to give you an example
caldaran benzy who is british left in critics
argues that the very form that the realist
novel takes up ah is becomes validation of
the existing social structure that is prevalent
for that society at that particular time
and she argues that this is so because realism
lives the conventional ways of looking at
things intact and it actually discourages
a critical scrutiny of reality we shall now
go ne to examine what has be what we understood
today what we are going to understand today
as the leninist model of marxist criticism
now the leninist model of marxist criticism
represents ah a much rather rather structural
approach to art then was then what was original
advocated by marx and engels and this is seen
as something that was adopted and implemented
from about the nineteen thirties onwards which
is to say since the since the revolution to
place
so this is roughly seen as mode of criticism
that was in circulation and prevalence and
currency from about nineteen thirty till about
nineteen sixty or so now the the official
so we added to a literature dictated that
dictate a lot of control over literature and
arts in the u s s r when thus so we to ressia
now this can be very easily seen in the humerus
example of brilliant film maker known as sagacious
time now since this model of this this approach
advocated that um you know literature art
should be controlled and should be you know
should be an instrument that that promotes
the revolution that supports the revolution
ah all art and all forms of art and media
where widely mediated and you know strictly
ah regulated this became a especially a problem
for the russian film makers who ah who who
i enjoyed a bit of freedom for it came up
and and who are largely instrumental and producing
some of the best and innovative and experimental
works that have defined modern cinema
so what happened in so in ressia was there
if you're trying to make a film you could
only make a film you could only make a film
thet the state would approve and that would
innovatively be film that talks about the
you know glorifying the revolution so sergei
eisenstein who was a brilliant film maker
he commission he he approach lenin to grand
to be granted has to give and to be granted
funding and he proposed a film known as avian
the terrible which was basically about the
despotic role of mindless tyrant this script
was approved the film was made and released
and it was it was widely you know it was very
well received
the film was such a good the great hit that
lenin actually commissioned you know part
for a sequel and thus avian horror movie part
two was made and this went on and talks where
in the pipeline for making a third third part
of avian the terrible when he suddenly realised
that avain himself might the cruel despot
that is presented in avain the terrible might
actually be very thinly wield representation
of lenin himself and it is to say this made
him pretty angry but before he could retaliate
sergei eisenstein had already left ressia
and this is a funny anecdote that we remember
thus as early as the first service writer
of congress and came about a nineteen thirty
four liberal's views where completely out
lord and a new orthodoxy was imposed which
is basically basically based on the writings
of lenin himself lenin had argued as early
as nineteen not five that literature must
be become an instrument of the party self
literature he said in his own words must become
party literature thus experimentation in art
and literature was officially banned officially
and effectively band and writers like james
joyce and marcel proust where stigma side
as exemplars of what they understood to be
the brochure decadence of the western world
and strict form of socialist realism was imposed
all over so that ressia
now the theorist george steiner identifier
for us two major a stream of marxist criticism
he identifies first for us the angels in kind
which stresses the necessary freedom of art
from direct political determination and he
also identify for us the leniniest model which
insist on the need for art to be explicitly
committed to the political cause of the left
thus in what came to be known as the walger
marxism of the nineteen thirties a direct
cause and effect relationship ah between art
literature and ah and economics was assumed
and all writers where seen as someone who
are who who who who are inevitably trapped
within the intellectual limits of their own
social class position as an example as a testimonies
to this we have christopher caudwell illusion
and reality to published in nineteen thirty
and nineteen forty six
where he maintenance that every facet of a
writer is linked to some aspect of his or
her social status this means obviously means
that all poets have their own forms of escape
from modern reality he was critical of poetry
in general for example in tennyson he identified
the citation world of romance in browning
he identify the italian romance of spring
time etcetera all of which he immediately
dismissed as escape it poetry that ignored
everyday social and class related realities
now according to strainers on commentary and
account
the angels here marxis form of critics which
was a more liberal of the to also forest in
the nineteen thirty however it was almost
in exile or in a every surprise or underground
from the group that effectively practice this
is something that we know today as the ressian
formalist the ressian formalist where a group
of writers and critics and thinkers who florist
in the nineteen twenties until they where
official by this bended by the party itself
the most prominent members of the group where
theories like victor shklovsky boris thmoshefsky
and boris eichenbaum shklovsky is on idea
of decentralization or the act of making strange
which was originally expanded and given to
us in his essay artist technique planes that
one of the chief effects of literary language
is that of making the familiar world seem
new to us ah and this is to encourage our
critical understanding of it
because he would be seen it as is where the
first time and thus it is late open and bear
to us for our reappraisal another key fromlist
idea that is borrowed from thmoshefsky is
distinction is his identification is distinction
between the story and the plot he called the
story of fabola ressian and plot itself was
called suje in ressian in later on in the
early nineteen fifties and the nineteen sixties
this formulist ideas where of great interest
to the early structuralist particular this
is particularly so because of their emphasis
on the distinction between the language the
the has two aspects of language in reality
and on literature itself as a set of systematic
procedures and and in acted and structures
now the group the suppress group known as
russian formalism also had a messive influence
in germany made it to the establishment of
what we understand today at the frankfurt
school of marxist esthetic which was founded
in nineteen twenty three now the frankfurt
school of marxist criticism also practice
the form of criticism it's try to combine
fraud and marks as well as taking in and exploring
some of the aspects of our formalism the prominent
members of the frankfurt school includes theory
such as walter benjamin and thorold adorno
just like ah some of the people that they
mention the playwright brotol brett also flud
in germony in an attempt to free the technical
imposition of social realism on his work and
art
and it is form brett from brotol brett that
we get that idea of the the the the notion
of alienation effect in drama which is basically
the implementation of device that is intended
to draw the attention of the audience to the
fact that what they see has been answered
on the stage is basically ah very artificial
and constructed literary image and some thing
that is not ah natural ah reality at all as
an example to this we can we have the the
best role play gellilio ah where one of the
trobes in the play in involves the direct
the director itself sitting on this stage
with his script in hand now as as you can
understand this this this basically foreground
the idea of defamilirization that we just
talked about since again it also emphasizes
this shift between literature and life and
with that will conclude our discussion on
marxists literature theory and criticism will
pick this up later on in the next module thank
you
