Marxism and literary criticism / Terry Eagleton ; with a new introduction by the author.

Originally published: London : Methuen, 1976.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Literature and history. Marx, Engels and criticism. Base and superstructure. Literature and superstructure. Literature and ideology -- 2. Form and content. History and form. Form and ideology. Lukacs and literary form. Goldmann and genetic structuralism. Pierre Macherey and 'decentred' form -- 3. The writer and commitment. Art and the proletariat. Lenin, Trotsky and commitment. Marx, Engels and commitment. The reflectionist theory. Literary commitment and English Marxism -- 4. The author as producer. Art as production. Walter Benjamin. Bertolt Brecht and 'epic' theatre. Form and production. Realism or modernism? Consciousness and production.

"Is Marx relevant any more? Why should we care what he wrote? What difference could it make to our reading of literature? Terry Eagleton, one of the foremost critics of our generation, has some answers in this wonderfully clear and readable analysis. Sharp and concise, it is, without doubt, the most important work on literary criticism that has emerged out of the tradition of Marxist philosophy and social theory since the nineteenth century. For this Routledge Classics edition the author has written a startling and challenging new preface, which explains the continuing relevance of this pioneering work for the twenty-first century. For anyone interested in literature this book is essential reading."--BOOK JACKET.

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