Marxism By David, Justin, and Josh

Definition Marxist literary criticism looks at the ideology of the author. This particular method is used to explain the question of why an author wrote a particular piece. It does this by looking for the place of class struggle in a literary piece, and at how social classes are portrayed. Marxist criticism also looks at the time period a work was written at. For example, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, was written during the Victorian Era, a period in which industrialization led to great inequality. In the novel, of course, Dickens satirizes the wealthy with the bourgeoisie moneylender, Scrooge, while celebrating the underclass, such as the family of Bob Crachit. It’s worth mentioning that many famous Dickensian works were written around the same time Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto.

Background Marxist literary criticism had it’s origins with Marxism itself. To apply the theory to itself, it can be pointed at the time, particularly in Germany, social inequality was rampant. This later became the preferred form of literary criticism in the USSR and its satellite states. The theory attempts to explain why an author wrote a work, and to glean information about the author’s views on events at the time. Foe example, The Time Machine, by HG Wells, has it’s protagonist travelling to a time when an attractive but unintelligent race, the Eloi, are used as livestock by an industrious but ugly race, the Morlocks. The protagonist discovers that the Eloi are the descendants of the upper classes, and the Morlocks are the descendants of the workers. From this it can be assumed that Wells was disgusted by the rampant exploitation of the workers by the wealthy. It’s worth noting that the novel was written at the tail end of the Victorian Era, at which point many of the social injustices which Charles Dickens satirized were still unresolved.

Advantages This method of criticism gives clues to the authors ideology and views on events of the time. For example, The Butter Battle Book, by Theodore Geisel, under his nom de plume of Dr. Seuss, satirizes the arms race and the Cold War. The conclusion that can be drawn from that book is that Geisel was appalled by the arms race, and found the Cold War ridiculous, as evidenced by the making of the competition between Communism and Capitalism equivalent to a debate over which side bread should be buttered on.

Disadvantages The main disadvantage of this method is the lack of an explanation for non-ideological aspects of literature. For example, one of the themes that can be drawn from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels is that, to quote Alexander Pope, “love conquers all.” Love, of course, has no ideology. Another problem, of course, is that another thing that has no ideology is literary devices. There is no message of proletarian solidarity in alliteration.

Marxist Criticism in the Mahmoud Darwish poem Identity Card In the poem Identity Card, Mahmoud Darwish, historical context is important. At the time the poem was written, the First Arab-Israeli war had led to the seizure of Palestinian lands by the Israelis. At the same time, the West Bank had been forcibly annexed by Jordan, and the Gaza Strip had been given the same treatment by Egypt. This, in many ways, explains the passage “You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors and the land which I cultivated along with my children and you left nothing for us except for these rocks.. So will the State take them as it has been said?” Evidently, Darwish sees the seizure of Palestinian lands by their neighbors as nothing other than theft. This becomes even more apparent when one discovers that Mahmoud Darwish is an ardent advocate for the rights of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

. Works Cited Guide, M. L. (n.d.). Retrieved 12 3, 2011, from teway/gateway/Marxistlitcrit.html Siegel, K. (n.d.). Introduction to Modern Literary Theory. Retrieved 12 3, 2011, from Kristi Siegel.com: