[Tyr Zalo Hawk]: 712.Essays.Response Papers.Marxism

Thank you, God. I knew you were listening when I typed that one page rant on the top of my last paper. Oh, and props on the whole inspiring TobyMac thing. Props, bro.


Finally, Criticism I Don’t Hate With the Fiery, Burning Passion of 1,000 White-Hot Suns

You know how Communism is the devil and “death is a preferable alternative to Communism” (Prime)? You remember all the fun you ever had learning in history class about the socio-political differences between the United States and Russia which led to the Cold War? Oh, and do you recall how just last week I was ready to rip my eyeballs from their sockets and cut off my own ears with a dull, rusty spoon just to I wouldn’t ever have to experience the unfathomably bottomless wells of repetitiveness that I call post-feminimodestructuralististist criticism? Well, Marxist theory is a refreshing breath of air in comparison to all that, so you can relax.
I’m not sure if it’s because Marxist criticism started off as a political movement instead of a social-rights movement, or if it’s just because I’m so fascinated by the way the enemy thinks, but I actually enjoyed reading about Marxist theory. I found myself reading intently about the dichotomy between factions of Marxism, especially when Barry describes the differences between ‘Engelsian’ and ‘ Leninist’ Marxism, and then the adds Althusser to the mix. I couldn’t believe that there was a branch of Marxism (Engelsian, to be specific) which promoted ideals I could get behind like “the need for a close formal analysis of literature… the belief that the language of literature has its own characteristic procedures and effects… and Shklovsky’s idea of ‘defamiliarisation’” (Barry 155). Since when was Marxist criticism the only reasonable style of criticism in the boatload, had it been hiding from me this entire time because of my prejudices? Well, according to Althusser, that’s exactly what was happening.
Barry describes Althusser’s idea of interpellation, a trick of the liberal media, which to me had previously just been a large word which fancy men in suede jackets threw about: “it makes us feel like free agents (‘you can have any colour you like…’) while actually imposing things upon us (‘…as long as it’s black’)” (158). Such ideas, such grand ideas coming from the mouth of a known (by the broadest form of technicality I know of) Communist? There had to be something wrong. I’ve always thought of Communism in the same way as my greatest hero has, as a hindrance: “Communism is a temporary setback on the road to freedom” (Prime). And yet here’s Marxist Criticism with reasonable ideas that I myself believe in. I mean, who doesn’t want a system of literary theory in which not only the work is considered for its beauty, but also for its place in the world in which it was created? Yes, I like to think of myself as a free agent too, and no communist is going to convince me I’m just another snowflake, but the idea that there’s a “division between the ‘overt’ (manifest or surface) and ‘covert’ (latent or hidden) content of a literary work” (Barry 161) is simply too logical and meaningful to just ignore. Why, Marxist criticism could even become the second half of my final paper (whose current loose title is: Why Barthes is Wrong, Oh So Very Wrong). Passion and logic, two things which I can admire, are the two things I find in Marxist criticism which had me turning ages excitedly just a few minutes ago, and, honestly, isn’t that what this is all about?



Works Cited
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press: NY. 2009.
Prime, Liberty. Selected quotes from Fallout 3. Bethesda Softworks. 2008.