Description
Book SynopsisA compelling and accessible textbook, by a pre-eminent Marxist literary critic.
Trade Review'Invigorating and lucid - a fine introduction to Marxism in general and to Marxist literary criticism. Foley has done a superb job writing a book that is useful both for novices and for teachers who wish to show how literature is inescapably connected to the material world'
-- Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of 'The Sympathizer'
'Widely surveying contemporary critical theory and practice, Barbara Foley's magisterial book demonstrates the crucial significance of Marxism to our historical moment, and it will be a valuable resource for students, critics, and activists for years to come'
-- Robert T. Tally Jr., Texas State University
'Foley deftly sketches the lineaments of traditional Marxism, then some main interests of traditional criticism, and then shows in readings of literary texts what depth of insight comes from conjoining the two traditions. I warmly recommend this book especially for those who want to change the world as well as interpret it'
-- Richard Ohmann, Wesleyan University
'This is a book many have longed for. Readers of literature will find Foley's lucid exposition of Marxist criticism an invaluable guide.'
-- Rosemary Hennessy, Rice University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Prologue
PART I: MARXISM
1. Historical Materialism
Materialism
Production
Dialectics
Class
Base and Superstructure
Relative Autonomy
Mediation
Levels of Generality
2. Political Economy
Commodities
Commodity Fetishism
Labor Power and Exploitation
Surplus Value
Alienation
Capital
3. Ideology
Three Definitions of Ideology in Marx
Dominant Ideology
Relative Autonomy and Mediation Revisited
Ideology as Smorgasbord
Reification
Interpellation
Hegemony and Alternative Hegemony
PART II: LITERATURE
4. Literature and Literary Criticism
Defining Literature
Fictionality
Density
Depth
Concreteness and Particularity
Showing Not Telling
Defamiliarization
Universality
Empathy
Individuality
Group Identity
Formal Unity
Autonomy
Beauty
Greatness
5. Marxist Literary Criticism
Rhetoric and Interpellation
Ideology Critique
Symptomatic Reading
Humanism
Realism
Proletarian Literature and Alternative Hegemony
6. Marxist Pedagogy
Alienation
Rebellion
Nation
War
Money
Race and Racism
Gender and Sexuality
Nature
Mortality
Art
Notes
Bibliography
Index
