A Marxist Reading of George Orwell's 1984 from the Point of View of George Luckàcs

A Marxist reading of Orwell's 1984. From the standpoint of Luckàcs

Marxism accepts a virtually axiomatic dialectical materialism, the labor theory of value and the economic determination of all human actions and institutions. It is characterized by a belief in the class struggle as a fundamental force in history.

Bennett, (1965, p. 643)

It is noteworthy to be stated clearly at the outset of the present paper that literary theories are composed of a mere plethora of highly debatable ideas, concepts and assumptions. They are in other words, strikingly vague, opaque and of a typical flexibility. According to Wellek and Warren (1966, p. 30) }there are then, not only one or two but literally hundreds of independent, diverse, and mutually exclusive conceptions of literature, each of which is in some way right~. That is, the diversity of literary theories and even the contradiction between them sometimes, is something natural.

Consequently, one can broach a series of querries about literature and the nature of literary theories : what is literature ? What is the novel and what is its function ? And finally, to what extent does criticism affect the quality of literature ? This welter of questions is nothing but the tip of the ice berg.

Literature }is a writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards life~. Rees (1984, p. 2). Whereas the novel, as a precised particular genre of literature, is a narrative prose of considerable length,which merges reality with fantasy and imagination to imbue its characters and actions with a sense of fiction. In answer to the second part of the question, Nin (1972, p.168) argues that }the function of the novel is to give you an emotional experience....

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...ce. London and New York :

Matheun & Co, Ltd.

Quinn, K. (1992). How literature works. London : The Mac Millan press Ltd.

R. J. Rees (1973). English literature : A introduction for foreign readers. London :

The MACMILLAN PRESS LTD.

Smith, S. (1991). Marxism and ideology. In D. Tallack. (Ed). Literary theory at

work. London : BT Batsford Ltd.

Wellek, R., and Warren, A. (1966). Theory of literature. New York : Harcourt

Brace and company.

II - Dictionaries of literary terms

Fowler, R. (Ed). (1987). Adictionary of Modern critical terms. London and New

York : Routledge & Kegan Paul.

J. A. Cuddon. (1991). Dictionary of literary terms and theories London : Penguin.

III - Novels

Flaubert, G. (1964). A simple heart. In Three Tales. London : Penguin books.

Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty four. (1990, edition). London : Penguin.