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Routledge Revivals Georg Lukács First published in 1977, Georg Lukács gives an outline of Lukács’ views and explains how they are related to the relevant cultural traditions of his epoch. The author covers the whole range of Lukács’ thought, from his earliest literary criticism to the posthumous Ontology of Social Existence. Lukács’ early writings in particular are frequently obscure in style and impregnated with the language and thought of Hegel. Professor Parkinson has elucidated Lukács’ principal writings in systematic fashion, and the book includes a detailed exposition of Lukács’ influential but difficult book History and Class Consciousness. This should be an indispensable book for all those who seek a clear, comprehensible introduction to the writings of one of the most influential Marxist thinkers of our time. Georg Lukács G. H. R. Parkinson Firstpublishedin1977 ByRoutledgeandKeganPaul Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2022byRoutledge 4ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN andbyRoutledge 605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©G.H.R.Parkinson,1977 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilisedin any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. Publisher’sNote Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprintbutpoints outthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybeapparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondencefromthosetheyhavebeenunabletocontact. ALibraryofCongressrecordexistsunderISBN:0710086784 ISBN:978-1-032-48169-2(hbk) ISBN:978-1-003-38791-6(ebk) ISBN:978-1-032-48212-5(pbk) BookDOI10.4324/9781003387916 Georg Lukacs by G.H.R. Parkinson Professor of Philosophy University of Reading Routledge & Kegan Paul London, Henley and Boston First published in igyy by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 3Q Store Street, London WCiE 7DD, Broadway House, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RGg 1EN and g Park Street, Boston, Mass. 02108, USA Set in Bembo by Computacomp (UK) Ltd Fort William and printed in Great Britain by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd Thetford, Norfolk © G.H.R. Parkinson, igyy No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Parkinson, George Henry Radcliff'e, George Lukacs. 1. Lukacs Gy orgy lgg'.qjg B4815.L84 77-30010 ISBN 0-7100-8678-4 Contents Preface vii 1 Lukacs’ Life and Times i 2 Pre-Marxist Literary Criticism: The Soul and the Forms (1911) and The Theory of the Novel (1916) 19 3 Marxism and Hegelianism: History and Class Consciousness (1923) 34 4 Marxism and the History of Philosophy: The Young Hegel (1948) and The Destructon of Reason (1954) 58 $ Marxism and Literarv Criticism: 1 The Literature of the West 83 6 Marxism and Literary Criticism: 2 Russian Literature 109 7 A Marxisthe Aesthetic (1963) 125 8 The Ontology of Social Existence 145 Abbreviations 163 Notes 165 Bibliography 196 Index 201 v Preface This book is an expository and not a critical study. It tries to give an outline of Lukacs ’ views and to say how they are related to the relevant cultural traditions of his epoch; it does not comment on the rightness or wrongness of those views. This absence of criticism may be seen as a defect, but I believe that there is a place for a purely expository book about Lukacs. It is a commonplace maxim (though one that is not always followed with any determination) that one should try to understand what a writer’s views are before one criticises them. In some cases, and Lukacs’ is one of them, the achievement of such understanding is not easy, and the expositor performs a useful task. Second, Lukacs was a systematic writer, and it may be that once a writer’s system is set out, with its assumptions made explicit and the links between propositions made clear, defects in the system can be seen more easily. I have said that to understand Lukacs ’ work is not easy. The reader is faced with difficulties of two kinds. The works of Lukacs’ earlier years are often obscure in style; some of his earliest writings are almost prose poems, and his most famous book, History and Class Consciousness, is heavily impregnated with the language and thought of one of the most difficult of philosophers, Hegel. Lukacs’ later works are written in a plainer and clearer style, but even here the reader is faced with difficulties. These spring from the sheer bulk and detail of Lukacs’ writings, which are such as often to obscure the overall structure of his thought. Any attempt at a concise account of this structure must omit a great deal, and it may sometimes be thought that what has been omitted is of major importance, or that what has been included is comparatively unimportant. But it is vii