There is no utopian schema to replace careful reading: Notes on Anshen's Marxist Literary and Cultural Theory (2017)

Reading notes on: Marxist Literary and Cultural Theory by David Anshen (2017)

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Preface

Just as there is no utopian schema to replace capitalism there is no utopian schema to replace careful reading….

….the fluid nature of historical reality prohibits fixed methodology

      I will suggest two central points worth considering. These points also address those who might reject the intellectual framework of Marxism, out of hand, without due consideration….

First.... it keeps seemingly rising from the coffin it has been consigned to, re-engaging the minds and energies of those who want to think and live better than the default results of an unexamined and increasingly unpleasant capitalist world system....  has perpetually been mispronounced dead by intellectuals who focus on defeats, real or imaginary, to justify their accommodation to the status quo.

....second....  Sartre....  our thoughts could not go beyond Marxism because 'we have not gone beyond the circumstances that engendered it'.

sophisticated approaches to reading....  offer intellectual tools for analysis of literature and culture.

....Finally, it is my hope that this work sparks interest and excitement. I greatly hope readers find this an accessible and useful guide for future thought, work, and activity. As Che was fond of saying, 'Hasta la Victoria Siempre!'

Jay

5 November 2021