Marxist Literary Criticism Today

Book Details

• Publisher: Pluto Press

• Author: Barbara Foley

• Language: English

• Edition: 2019

• ISBN: 9780745338835

• Pages: 288

• Cover: Paperback

• Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches

About the Book
Why Marxism? Why Today? is the first comprehensive introduction to Marxist literary criticism in decades. In this thought-provoking work, Barbara Foley explores why Marxism remains the most effective framework for understanding the connection between literature and society. With clarity and precision, Foley outlines the essential aspects of Marxist methodology, including historical materialism, political economy, and ideology critique, offering a rich analysis of key debates within both Marxist and non-Marxist circles about the role of literature and the aims of literary criticism and pedagogy.

Through a Marxist lens, Foley examines a broad spectrum of texts, from classics like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to contemporary works like E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey. She engages with diverse voices and narratives, such as Frederick Douglass's famous speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" and Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, as well as poems like W.B. Yeats’s "The Second Coming" and Claude McKay’s "If We Must Die."

This work is not just a critique of literature but also a call to understand literature as a powerful tool for social transformation. It brings Marxist theory to life by engaging with works from a wide array of genres, demonstrating how Marxism continues to offer fresh and necessary insights into literary works and the world we live in today.

Contents
Part I: Marxism

1. Historical Materialism

2. Political Economy

3. Ideology

Part II: Literature
4. Literature and Literary Criticism
5. Marxist Literary Criticism
6. Marxist Pedagogy

About the Author
Barbara Foley is Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University, Newark. She is the author of Wrestling with the Left: The Making of Ralph Ellison's “Invisible Man” (2010) and Spectres of 1919: Class and Nation in the Making of the New Negro (2003). Her scholarly work has made significant contributions to Marxist theory and literary criticism.