earticle

영어

The aim of this study is to investigate the several related sets of questions such as definition of Marxism, the reasons for the present popularity of Marxism to intellectuals, politics, and others, the core principles of Marxist thought, the limit of Marxist literary criticism and finally to suggest Marxist literary critic’s tasks. Marxism is an approach to literary analysis based on the principles of Friedrich Engels(1820~1895) and Karl Marx(1818~1883). Marxism is not primarily a literary theory that can be used to interpret a literary text, for it is first a set of social, economic, and political ideas to interpret and change the world. According to Marxists, ultimate reality is material, not spiritual. As an approach to literary analysis, Marxism’s methodology is a dynamic process that maintains that a proper critique of a text cannot exist in isolation from the cultural situation in which the text evolved. Necessarily, Marxists argue the study of literature and the study of society are intricately bound. By placing the text in its historical context and analyzing the author’s view of life, Marxist critics arrive at one of their chief concerns: ideology. These critics are interested in the ideology expressed by the author, as evidenced through his or her fictional world, and how this ideology interacts with the reader’s personal ideology. A Marxist critic may begin such an analysis by elucidating how an author’s text reflects the writer’s ideology through an examination of the fictional world’s characters, settings, society, or any other aspect of the text. Whatever method the critic chooses, a Marxist approach exposes the dominant class, demonstrates how the bourgeoisie’s ideology controls and oppresses the working class, and highlights elements of society most affected by such oppression. Such an analysis, Marxist critics hope, will lead to action, social change, revolution, and the rise of socialism. Any Marxist critic must keep the core principles of Marxism and critic’s tasks in his or her heart. These are suggested in this paper of my own.