Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Written in response to Carolyn Lesjak and Stefano Ercolino, this article reconstructs the author's changing relationship to historical materialism.

WHEN GYORGY LUKACS is still mentioned nowadays in connection with the study of the novel, it is either for The Theory of the Novel, composed between 1914 and 1916, or for The Historical Novel, written exactly twenty years later. Either, or: because the two books couldn't be more different. The Historical Novel is a very good book-a very useful book-written by a serious Marxist professor. The Theory is not useful at all. It is an 'attempt' [ein Versuch], declares the subtitle; but 'Essay' would be more to the point. Adapted from the source document.

The modern bourgeoisie, reads the famous encomium in the Communist Manifesto, 'has accomplished wonders far surpassing Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts, and Gothic cathedrals; it has conducted expeditions... agglomerated population, centralized means of production... conjured whole peoples out of the ground' Pyramids, aqueducts, cathedrals; conducted, agglomerated, centralized... Clearly, for Marx and Engels, the 'revolutionary role' of the bourgeoisie lies in what this class has done. But there is also another, more intangible reason for their praise: Wherever it has got the upper hand, the bourgeoisie has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his 'natural superiors', and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous 'cash payment'. Instead of hiding its rule behind a host of symbolic delusions, the bourgeoisie forces all of society to face the truth about itself. It is the first realistic class of human history. Adapted from the source document.

What can quantitative methods tell us about literary plots? Franco Moretti maps character networks from Shakespeare, Dickens and Cao Xueqin to shed light on questions of sovereignty, legitimacy and the reciprocity of social relations. Adapted from the source document.

An analysis of Henrik Ibsen's 12-play cycle argues that the bourgeoisie that dominate his work inhabit an "elusive gray area whose nature is never completely clear." This gray area is said to encompass reticence, slander, disloyalty, negligence, & half-truths alongside such bourgeois values as industriousness, earnestness, honesty, usefulness, & frugality. The gray area is compared to capitalism in terms of an "irreconcilable contradiction between two moralities." It is contended that Ibsen had the ability to describe bourgeois ambiguity & flexible morality without having to resolve them. The ways in which Ibsen's characters use metaphors are explored with special attention given to Nora's easy dismissal of lies at the end of Doll's House as "one of the great pages of bourgeois culture." The bourgeoisie are looked at as both the "prose of capitalist history" & the dominant class after the industrial revolution. To Ibsen, the greatest gift the bourgeoisie have given to the world is the "bifurcation between a much more rational & a much more irrational rule over society.". Adapted from the source document.

This discussion uses the five volumes of Moretti's Il Romanzo in order to attempt an analysis of the novel that is historically deeper, geographically wider & morphologically broader than the attempts of most critics. Moretti's work is used to address the novelistic issues of prose & plot, as well as to illuminate the genre of xiaoshuo from Chinese literature. Also of concern is the prevalence in novels of antiquated power relations within the context of a bourgeois literary tradition. Other topics surveyed include the development of the novel as an art form, a comparison of Chinese & Western literary traditions in extended prose narratives, the dramatic increase in the numbers of readers in France & England in the eighteenth century, & the influence of the novel on disparate modern forms such as films & video games. R. Young