Date: Sat, 28 Jan 1995 11:54:08 -0800 (PST)
From: Kenny Mostern <kennym-AT-uclink2.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Re: question from a novice


I was surprised that Jon Beasley-Murray left out Raymond Williams 
*Marxism and Literature* from the list of works articulating the relation 
between the two.  I don't agree with everything in it but I don't think 
there's a better place to start.

Kenny Mostern
UC-Berkeley Ethnic Studies Graduate Group

Against:  racism, sexism, homophobia, capitalism, militarism
For:  the truth--and the funk!

On Fri, 27 Jan 1995, Jon Beasley-Murray wrote:

> I think I'm with Chris (and, by the looks of it, very much in the 
> minority) on this one.
> 
> I'd suggest starting to look at the influence Marx and Marxist writers 
> have had on the field you are in at present, and working out some of the 
> lineages and trajectories of the Marxist tradition from there.  In 
> literary and cultural studies this might include Terry Eagleton's short 
> but useful _Marxist Literary Criticism_ (I may have the title wrong 
> there) or Nelson and Grossberg (eds.), _Marxism and the Interpretation of 
> Culture_.
> 
> For feminist elaborations, Kuhn (ed.) _Feminism and Materialism_ or a 
> more recent anthology (whose title I forget--can anyone help here?  the 
> cover its red, if that helps) are also useful.
> 
> This is not fully to substitute for reading Marx himself, but on the 
> other hand (as far as I can see) there is no "original" Marx, and what's 
> interesting is how Marx has and can be used in specific circumstances for 
> specific ends.
> 
> Take care
> 
> Jon
> 
> Jon Beasley-Murray
> Literature Program
> Duke University
> jpb8-AT-acpub.duke.edu
> http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~spoons
> 

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