Karl Marx and World Literature

"Very few men", said Bakunin, "have read as much, and, it may be added, have read as intelligently, as M. Marx." S. S. Prawer's highly influential work explores how the world of imaginative literature#xE2;#xAC;#x1D;poems, novels, plays#xE2;#xAC;#x1D;infused and shaped Marx's writings, from his unpublished correspondence, to his pamphlets and major works. In exploring Marx's use of literary texts, from Aeschylus to Balzac, and the central role of art and literature in the development of his critical vision, Karl Marx and World Literature is a forensic masterpiece of critical analysis.

S. S. Prawer (1925–2012) was Taylor Emeritus Professor of German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford. His many books include Caligari’s Children, A Cultural Citizen of the World: Sigmund Freud’s Knowledge and Use of British and American Writing, and Karl Marx and World Literature.