INTRODUCTION:
W. H. Hudson in his book ‘An Introduction to the Study of Literature’ considers literature as a social product. One cannot detach literature from the social environment in which the author lives and the time during which that work of art is written. Taine, a French critic too emphasized on the study of the ‘race’, ‘milieu’ and the ‘moment’. Karl Marx, a German sociologist propounded a socialist theory in ‘The Communist Manifesto’ published in 1848.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German
philosopher, sociologist and economist. Marxist literary theory considers text
(literature) as an expression of class struggle. According to Marx, all
societies are basically divided into classes and there have always been
conflicts between these classes – ruling class and working class, rich and
poor, owners and workers, urban class and rural class, men and women etc.
Literature expresses this class struggle. Mark his words:
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. - Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, that each time ended, either in the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”
In the ancient India, Manu has divided the
society in four broad classes. According to ‘Manusmriti’ the society is
composed of four communities – those who know the Vedas (the Brahmins), those
who govern the land (the Kshatriyas), those who trade or do business (the
Vaishyas) and those who serve (the Shudras).
Marx opined that literature is not a matter of personal taste or
expression. Literature has close connection with social and political
conditions of the time. Hence Marxist theory is concerned with the following
questions and attempts to answer them.
1. Is the
text a mirror of social values?
2. Is it a
form of propaganda for the ruling classes?
3. Can
literature challenge social norms?
Karl Marx gave the concepts of BASE / INFRASTRUCTURE and
SUPERSTRUCTURE.
BASE / INFRASTRUCTURE: The
economic conditions of man are the Base or Infrastructure. Tools, machines,
labor, raw material, property, commodities etc.
SUPERSTRUCTURE: It includes law,
religion, ideology, politics, education etc. It means the way we look at this
world. Marx considers superstructure as consciousness, awareness or
understanding. Marx rightly said, “It is not the consciousness
of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being
that determines their consciousness.” Our ability to think for
ourselves is limited: our ideas are shaped by the material, economic conditions
of life.
MARXISM & LITERATURE: According to Marx,
literature belongs to the superstructure. He treats literature simply as a
means of propaganda for the ruling classes. For example, in the olden times of
Feudal Rule, people loved chivalric romances, stories about knights who fight
for honor and win their lady’s love. In today’s capitalistic society, many
people enjoy watching James Bond movies, which celebrate the glamorous
lifestyle of the modern gentleman, the lady’s man who dresses in expensive
clothes and drives fast cars.
Raymond Williams, a modern cultural critic suggested in ‘Marxism and Literature’ (1977) that
every historical time period has competing hegemonies. The dominant
hegemony (authority) promotes the interests of the ruling classes, the
remaining hegemony defends the culture and belief system of the previous era,
and the emergent hegemony shares revolutionary ideas that may later become the
dominant hegemony.
EXAMPLES OF MARIXISM IN LITERATURE:
Wordsworth’s romanticism and his love for nature and rustic
people are well expressed in his poems. The Marxist critic examines Wordsworth’s
poems in the light of class struggle. (Daffodils) According to a Marxist
critic, Wordsworth raises the voice of the rural against the urban people.
Jane Austen’s novels are viewed as raising women’s voice against
the male domination.
MAJOR FOLLOWERS OF MARXISM:
Marxism
influenced many Western writers like Richard Wright, Claude McKay, Jean-Paul
Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir etc. These writers were deeply influenced by Marxist and Socialist theories
of the day, and much of this type of reflection is evident in their writings of the time.
CONCLUSION:
In this way, it is believed that literature reveals to us the
spirit of the times, the issues that mattered to people. Literature (and entertainment)
is about much more than enjoyment or entertainment.
· It is
always a manifestation of class struggle. Marxist literary theory tries to
interpret the works of art from the view point of class struggle.
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