British and American Marxist Literary Theory
May 10th, 2011
Daniel Hartley: British and American Marxist Literary Theory: The Politics of Form
This lecture gives a brief outline of the field of Marxist literary theory – including a basic introduction to what Marxism actually is – plus an overview of its various national traditions (particularly Britain, America, Germany and France). The work of Raymond Williams, Terry Eagleton and Fredric Jameson, the three most prominent British and American literary Marxists, will then be outlined. In doing so, I shall discuss some central issues: the relation between literature and history, political commitment and literature, the relation between form and content, the politics of form, and so on. Likewise, concrete examples shall be given where possible.
On leaving the lecture, students should be able to describe the basic tenets of Marxist literary theory and know where to look, should they wish to pursue their study of this field.
Daniel Hartley received a first-class B.A. in English Literature from the University of Cardiff. He subsequently taught English for two years in France: one year at a high-school in Orléans, and one year at Nancy University, plus the Franco-German campus of Sciences Po. He then studied for two years at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, where he received a Research Master’s in Literary Studies (summa cum laude). He is currently a Ph.D. scholarship holder here in Giessen at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture. The provisional title of his Ph.D. project is ‘The Politics of Style: Raymond Williams, Terry Eagleton and Fredric Jameson’.