Quote: "In this thinking of the structure of societies, literary texts are one register of the superstructure, which is determined by the economic base of any given society."
A theoretical approach that analyzes literature in terms of the social and economic conditions that produce and are represented by it, with a focus on class struggle.
Historical Materialism: This is the cornerstone of Marxist theory which posits that economic and social conditions determine the politics, culture, and ideology of a society. It emphasizes the importance of examining the wider material conditions in which literary works are produced and their relationship with the dominant mode of production.
Base and Superstructure: This is a concept within Marxist theory that argues that a society's economic system-its base-has a direct impact on its cultural and ideological systems-its superstructure. It examines how the economic structure and class relationships shape the way literary works are produced, consumed, and interpreted.
Alienation: This concept asserts that capitalism leads to the separation of people from the products they produce and the society they live in. This idea is particularly applicable to literary works that portray characters who are alienated from their work, their society, and their own selves.
Class Struggle: This is a fundamental concept in Marxist theory, which contends that history is driven primarily by class struggle. Marxist literary criticism applies this concept while analyzing how literary works reflect and perpetuate class divisions and power relationships.
Ideology: Marxism believes that ideology is the binding force that maintains class supremacy and that it is produced, disseminated, and reinforced in cultural forms such as literature. Marxist literary criticism examines how the values, beliefs, and assumptions that underpin different literary texts are connected to their historical context and the power relations in society.
Marxist Feminism: This approach to feminism builds on Marxist theory to analyze the intersections of gender and class oppression. Marxist literary criticism that applies this concept examines how gender roles are constructed and how they reinforce capitalism's exploitation of labor.
Structuralism: Structuralism is a methodology of literary analysis based on the belief that language is a self-contained system of signs and structures. Marxist literary criticism applies this concept while investigating how literary texts can reinforce and reproduce capitalist ideologies.
Commodity Fetishism: This concept elaborates the idea of alienation by arguing that commodities take on a mystical or magical quality that obscures their origins and the labor that went into producing them. Marxist literary critics use this concept to analyze the commercialization of literature and culture.
Dialectical Materialism: This is a philosophical approach that emphasizes the importance of constant change and contradiction in society. Marxist literary criticism uses this to analyze how literary texts can reveal the contradictions of dominant ideology and capitalist society.
New Historicism: This is a critical approach that examines literary texts in relation to their historical and cultural context. Marxist literary criticism that applies this approach analyzes the relationship between the economy, politics, and culture in society and how literary texts embody and reflect these relationships.
Marxist Literary Theory: This is the most basic form of Marxist literary theory, which focuses on examining how literature reflects and critiques the social, economic, and political forces of capitalism.
Marxist Feminist Literary Theory: This type of Marxism extends to focus on the intersection of gender and class in literary works, and how it reflects the oppression of women under capitalism.
Marxist Cultural Theory: This type of Marxism examines how culture reinforces or subverts dominant economic and political systems.
Marxist Critical Discourse Analysis: This type of Marxism examines how language and discourse reinforce or challenge capitalist ideology in literature, media, and communication.
Marxist Postcolonial Theory: This type of Marxism applies Marxist principles to the analysis of postcolonial literature, which focuses on the cultural experiences and representations of formerly colonized societies.
Marxist Ecocriticism: This type of Marxism applies Marxist principles to environmental criticism, examining how literature reflects and critiques the destructive effects of capitalism on the environment.
Marxist Psychoanalytic Theory: This type of Marxism explores the relationship between psychological trauma and social oppression under capitalism, as reflected in literature.
Quote: "Most Marxist critics who were writing in what could chronologically be specified as the early period of Marxist literary criticism, subscribed to what has come to be called 'vulgar Marxism.'"
Quote: "Literary texts are a reflection of the economic base rather than 'the social institutions from which they originate.'"
Quote: "Even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function, based on the background and ideology of the author."
Quote: "Marxist criticism is not merely a 'sociology of literature', concerned with how novels get published and whether they mention the working class. Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully."
Quote: "Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully; and this means a sensitive attention to its forms, styles and meanings."
Quote: "...those forms, styles, and meanings as the product of a particular history."
Quote: "In Marxist criticism, class struggle and relations of production are the central instruments in analysis."
Quote: "For all social institutions, or more precisely human–social relationships, are in the final analysis determined by the economic base."
Quote: "Literary texts are a reflection of the economic base"
Quote: "Most Marxist critics who were writing in what could chronologically be specified as the early period of Marxist literary criticism, subscribed to what has come to be called 'vulgar Marxism.'"
Quote: "Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully."
Quote: "Even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function."
Quote: "Grasping those forms, styles, and meanings as the product of a particular history."
Quote: "Sensitive attention to its forms, styles, and meanings."
Quote: "Human-social relationships are in the final analysis determined by the economic base."
Quote: "Class struggle and relations of production are the central instruments in analysis."
Quote: "Based on the background and ideology of the author."
Quote: "To explain the literary work more fully"
Quote: "Literary texts are a reflection of the economic base rather than 'the social institutions from which they originate.'"