Marxist Literary Criticism - Development of Marxist Criticism

Development of Marxist Criticism

Although Marx and Friedrich Engels detailed theories of Socialism in the mid-nineteenth century, it was not until the 1920s that Marxist Literary Theory was systematized. The greatest impetus for this standardization came after the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia. The event instigated a change in belief around socialist ideals in government and society. While these ideals developed, socialist realism was accepted as the highest form of literature – a theory based on an art movement that depicted and glorified the proletariat’s struggle towards societal progress. These ideas guided both literary creation and official literary criticism in Russia, where works focused on the lives of the different classes. In the years since then, the Russian beliefs regarding literary theory have been modified to acknowledge that literary creation is a result of both subjective inspiration and the objective influence of the writer's surroundings. This system of belief relies on the social classes as well as the economic and political development of society. Thus, Marx’s theories intertwined expertly with the emerging ideologies of the new Russian movement and spread throughout the world.