Marx and the Dynamic of the Capital Formation: An Aesthetics of Political Economy

253 Pages·2010·1.61 MB·English

by  Beverley Best

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An Aesthetics of Political Economy
Beverley Best
MARX AND THE DYNAMIC OF THE CAPITAL FORMATION
Copyright © Beverley Best, 2010.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978 –0– 230–10239–2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Best, Beverley.
Marx and the dynamic of the capital formation : an aesthetics of
political economy / Beverley Best.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978– 0 –230–10239–2 (alk. paper)
1. Marxian economics. 2. Capitalism. I. Title.
HB97.5.B394 2010
335.4(cid:1)1—dc22 2009041558
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: June 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
To the memory of my father, Hugh Best,
who taught me the ol’ cartwheel trick.
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List of Photographs ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 Marx’s Critique of Abstraction 11
2 Capitalism’s Process of Self-Mystification 35
3 M arx’s Theoretical Process I: Abstraction and
Representation 61
4 Marx’s Theoretical Process II: Historicizing
the Dialectic 87
5 Mediation as Allegory: Reading Political Economy
through the Artwork of Geoffrey Farmer 117
6 The Aesthetics of Political Economy 151
7 Mapping the Collective Subject 177
Conclusion 215
Notes 221
References 231
Index 237
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P
5.1 Hunchback Kit, 2000– 122
5.2 Stills from How to Make a Gargoyle, Hunchback
Kit, 2000– 123
5.3 Trailer, 2002 124
5.4 Entrepreneur Alone Returning Back to Sculptural
Form, 2002 137
5.5 Entrepreneur Alone Returning Back to Sculptural
Form, 2002 138
5.6 E ntrepreneur Alone Returning Back to Sculptural
Form, 2002 138
5.7 Puppet Kit Personality Workshop, 2001 143
5.8 P uppet Kit Personality Workshop, 2001 144
5.9 Catriona Jeffries Catriona, 2001 148