Hello! This is my first post on Lemmygrad.
I have a lesson from my Literature Theory class in college about Marxist analysis. It has some stuff about “British Cultural Materialism”, “American New Historicism” and calls Simone de Beauvoir a Marxist among other things. I have a basic understanding of ML theory, though not enough to properly counter what is being said here.
The lesson is in PDF form, but I formatted it to Markdown and uploaded it to PrivateBin, here. I will also attach a screenshot showing the final questions regarding the lesson.
What points are there to be made against what is written there? It often feels like idealism and the lesson itself is filled with pseudo-Marxists.
Thank you comrades!
Welcome to the 'grad.
I’ll make a few points to be helpful, but I think it would be more useful for you to answer your question yourself as it will make you a stronger Marxist critic. Why don’t you pick a couple of points from the text, then (1) summarise it, (2) explain a/the relevant Marxist concept (this may involve some additional reading or you could stick with what you know), (3) applying the Marxist concept to the summarised point, and (4) deciding (concluding) whether it is pseudo-Marxist/idealist. There are worse ways to make notes. You could do that here and see what others say.
Simone de Beauvoir does have a chapter on historical materialism in The Second Sex. That may be worth reading to see what she thought of Marxism.
The screenshot you posted above includes some good questions. The statement/implication that Marxists are deterministic is open to challenge. This may come from the view that Marxists say revolution is ‘inevitable’. If so, the statement is based on a misunderstanding.
‘Inevitability’ is not used in a teleological sense, as if history is marching towards a single goal of communism. Instead, it is an optimistic catchphrase that accepts that change is driven by the struggle between interconnected opposites. With the knowledge we have available, that struggle could lead to socialism/communism or barbarism and we hope for the former. Once there, new possible futures will be revealed.
Alternatively, it could be a reference to Marxists like GA Cohen and to the ‘vulgar’ view of Marxism as technological determinism. If that’s the case, Cohen doesn’t represent all Marxists. So a full analysis must consider the Marxists who disagree with Cohen before implying that they’re all determinists. Personally, I think dialectical/historical materialism and determinism are incompatible, but that could be a good discussion to have.
In general, if you’re interested in Marxist literary theory, you might enjoy Terry Eagleton. I disagree with some of what he says, but he’s a good place to start.
PS I’d be careful uploading course materials, wholesale. There’s almost certainly something in your student charter that prohibits it and it could make you liable for some kind of academic misconduct.