Marxist criticism is based on Karl Marx's political and economic theories. It views society as having a base of economic structures and a superstructure of cultural elements like art and literature. Marxist critics believe the economic base determines the superstructure. They analyze works of literature in terms of the social classes and economic conditions that produced them, seeing art as reflecting class conflict and ideology. Modern Marxist criticism has been influenced by theorists like Louis Althusser who emphasized concepts like ideology, decentering of society, and interpellation.

1. Marxist
Criticism
Tayebul Aftab

2. Marxist Criticism
▪ Based on political and economic theories of Karl Marx
▪ Representatives of this School
▪ Cristopher Caudwell
▪ George Lucas
▪ Luciene Goldman
▪ Walter Benjamin
1818-1883

3. Marxism
▪ Economic Structure is the main driving force behind all
social condition and historical changes.
▪ Considers human history as a series of struggle
between classes.
▪ Aim Classless Society Common
ownership, Means of productions, Distribution,
Exchange.

4. Beginning
▪ Began when Marx and Engels met together
1818- 1820-
Karl Marx
Friedrich
Engels
Marxist

5. Marxist Literary Criticism
▪ Sees society as constituted by a “base” and a “superstructure”,
which is the “cultural” world of ideas, art, religion, law and so on.
▪ Marxist view says latter things are determined by the nature of
the “economic base”.
▪ Known as ECONOMIC DETERMINISM and the central part of
Marxism.

6. Marxist Literary Criticism
▪ It maintains that a writer’s social class and ideology have a
major bearing on what is written by a member of a class.
▪ They see the authors as constantly formed by their social class
and ideology that even they themselves don’t admit.
▪ Traditional Marxist Criticism deals with history, social classes
and clashes of large historical forces.

7. Leninist Marxist Criticism
▪ Argued that literature must be an instrument of PARTY.
▪ “Literature must become part of the organized, methodical and
unified labors of the Social-democratic party”.
▪ Experimentation banned later.
▪ Steiner says, The Leninist Marxist Criticism insists on the need
for art to explicitly committed to the political cause.

8. The present: Althusserian Influence
▪ Recent Marxist thinking has influenced by the work of French
Marxist theoretician Louis Althusser.
▪ Ideology is the key term for all of Marxist, according to him.
▪ Athusser defines, “Ideology is a system of representation
endowed with an existence and historical role at the heart of a
given society”.

9. Decentering
▪ Also a key term in Althusser.
▪ It indicates structures which have no essence, focus or centre.
▪ This notion implies, there is no overall unity rather art has a
relative autonomy and is determined by the economy ‘in the last
instance’. Center
Econom
y
Art
Religio
n
Law
Economy

10. Interpellation
▪ Choosing when we even have no choice at all.
▪ It only makes us feel as free but not at all.
▪ Interpellation is term for the way the individual is encouraged to
see himself/herself as a free and independent entity.
▪ It controls by the structures but not by physical force (Thus the
trick can be relate to the term hegemony in a way)

11. Concepts
▪ Marxist idea sees society as constituted by a “base” and a
“superstructure”.
▪ Marxist theory argues that the way we think and experience our
world are conditioned by the way the economy is organized.
(The material conditions control thoughts, not vice versa)

12. Basic Assumptions of Marxist Criticism
▪ Economic and social condition affect all aspects of life including
art and literature.
▪ Art reflects the social and economic conditions (and class
conflict)
▪ Art aims at improving the social and economic conditions.
▪ As literature represent ideology Marxist critics see it as a way
to understand social structures.
▪ Marxist critics explain class structure and relation in a literary
work.

13. Any
Query?