Marxist Literary Theory
A form of critique or
discourse for
interrogating all societies
and their texts in terms
of certain specific issues
– including race, class,
and the attitudes shared
within a given culture.
Historical Development
• Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883)
• Friedrich Engles (1820-1895)
– German Writers, Philosophers, Social Critics
– Coauthored The Communist Manifesto
– Declared that the capitalists, or the
bourgeoisie, had successfully enslaved the
working class, or the proletariat, through
economic policies and control of the
production of goods
Who was Karl Marx?
• Born in Trier, Germany in 1818
• German philosopher who rejected
the tenets of Romanticism in favor of
philosophy of dialectical materialism.
• Criticized the injustice inherent in the
European class/capitalist system of
economics operating in the 19th
Century.
• Believed that capitalism allowed the
bourgeoisie to benefit at the expense
of the workers.
• The Communist Manifesto.
• Das Kapital, analyzes the capitalist
form of wealth production and its
consequences for culture.
Assumptions
• In America, for example, the capitalists exploit
the working classes, determine their salaries
and working conditions, and other elements of
their lives. From this base, arises the
superstructure—a multitude of social and legal
institutions, political and education systems,
religious beliefs, values, and a body of art and
literature that one social class uses to keep
members of the working class in check.
Marxist Criticism
A Marxist critic may begin such an analysis
by showing how an author’s text reflects
his or her ideology through an examination
of the fictional world’s characters, settings,
society, or any other aspect of the text.
The critic may then launch an investigation
into …
Marxist Criticism
1. The author’s social class
2. Its effects upon the author’s society
3. Examining the history and the culture of
the times as reflected in the text
4. Investigate how the author either
correctly or incorrectly pictures this
historical period
Marxist Literary Theory
• Focuses on the representation of
class distinctions and class conflict in
literature
• Focuses more on social and political
elements than artistic and visual
(aesthetic) elements of a text
Questions Raised By the
Marxist Literary Lens
• How does the author’s social and
economic class show through the work?
• Does the work support the economic and
social status quo, or does it advocate
change?
• What roles does the class system play in
the work?
Questions Raised By the
Marxist Literary Lens
• What role does class play in the work; what
is the author’s analysis of class relations?
• How do characters overcome oppression?
• What does the work say about oppression;
or are social conflicts ignored or blamed
elsewhere?
Questions Raised By the
Marxist Literary Lens
• Does the work propose some form of
utopian vision as a solution to the problems
encountered in the work?
• In what ways does the work serve as
propaganda for the status quo; or does it try
to undermine it?
• Does the literature reflect the author’s own
class or analysis of class relations?
Key Terms
Proletariat
Bourgeoisie
Capitalism
Materialism
Classism
Commodification
Ask Questions
• Is there an objection to socialism?
• Does the text raise criticism about the emptiness
of life in bourgeois society?
• What does the author portray about society?
• What is emphasized, what is ignored?
• Are characters from all social levels equally
sketched?
• Are the main problems individual or collective?
How to Use
• Expose class conflict
• Who or what is the
dominant class?
• What does the
dominant class
believe?
• How do they impose
their beliefs on
others?
• Show how the
working class is
trapped
• Show how the
working class is
oppressed
• Show how the
working class can end
their own oppression
Marxist Literary Theory
• Materialist Criticism
• Social Criticism
• Committed Criticism
Applying Marxist Literary
Theory to Texts
Excerpt from Run with the
Horsemen by Ferrol Sams
• The colored folk were beginning their revival service, which
they called Big Meeting…They were, however, having dinner on
the grounds today, and the boy was eager to go. He had
extracted an invitation from Ole John Tom the evening
before…There were certain unwritten but nonetheless welldefined barriers of mutual respect between the races. Nowhere
has the doctrine of religious freedom been more openly
extended than in the rural post-Reconstruction South, except,
of course, to Catholics and Jews. As long as a group
designated itself Baptist, almost any code of behaviour was
acceptable. One did not, however, attend a strange church out
of idle curiosity. Certainly one did not traverse racial lines as a
titillated spectator. Although no one had ever bothered to tell
the boy that he should not go to a colored church, he knew
within his heart that such a venture was strictly taboo. He
consequently went about obtaining permission to go with Ole
John Tom in a very circuitous fashion (Sams 241).
Excerpt from Run with the
Horsemen by Ferrol Sams
• The boy stayed busy on the farm all that summer. Buddy came
to him early in the season and persuaded him to talk to his
father. As a result he and Buddy had five acres of watermelons
that they were raising on halves. The father furnished the land,
the mules, the fertilizer, and the seed. Buddy and the boy
furnished the labor. It would be their responsibility to harvest
and sell the melons. When the crop was finished, they would
have a settling-up day. All the money would be turned in, the
fertilizer and seed bills would be presented and halved, and
then the profits would be split down the middle, one half to the
father, the other half to Buddy and the boy. That was standard
procedure for all the tenants on the farm, except that the two
boys would not have to pay a grocery bill in addition (Sams
205).
Union
Not me alone—
I know now—
But all the whole oppressed
Poor world,
White and black,
Must put their hands with mine
To shake the pillars of those temples
Wherein the false gods dwell
And worn-out altars stand
Too well defended,
And the rule of greed’s upheld—
That must be ended.
—Langston Hughes
Activity Re-cap
• What should we expect to see through a
Marxist lens?
– the political context of the text itself (places
the study of literature in the context of
important social questions)
– that we as readers are socially constructed
subjects
– the idea that literature is a part of ideology
References
Appleman, Deborah. Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to
Adolescents. New York, Teachers College Press, 2000.
Brewton, Vince. “Marxism.” The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2002.
14 Sept. 2004 < http://www.iep.utm.edu/literary.htm >.
Brizee, Allen. “Karl Marx.” Marxist Literary Criticism. 2000. 18 Sept. 2004
<http://athena.english.vt.edu/~hbrizee/marxindex.htm >.
“Karl Marx.” 15 Sept. 2004 < http://ni206173181.blogspot.com >.
Mansour, Dr. Wisam. “Marxist Literary Theory.” 2000. 16 Sept. 2004
< www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy4573/Lectures/marxism.html >.
Schakel and Ridl. Approaching Poetry: Perspectives and Responses. New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1997.
“Marxism.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 14. Sept. 2004 < en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism >.
Works Cited
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An
Introduction to Theory and Practice.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1994.
Murfin, Ross and Ray, Supryia. The Bedford
Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms.
Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martins,
2003.