Against Misunderstood Modernism : Lukács’ Critique of Literary Realism

Sammanfattning

This paper argues that the term “realism” in the work of György Lukács, a major influence on Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin’s writings on literature, is not synonymous with 19th-century realism but instead denotes any literature where man is successfully portrayed as zoon politikon (a social animal). The paper demonstrates through Lukács critique of naturalist and socialist realist literature that Lukács is not a cultural conservative, as critics like Harold Rosenberg claim, but instead attempting to theorize how the novel-form can and should change over time to suit the needs of a given historical period. In light of this however, this paper argues Lukács’ definition of realism is insufficiently distinct from his conception of modernism and ultimately porous, undermining his later critique of modernist literature. In pursuit of this argument, I argue that Lukács earlier claim in his Theory of the Novel that the novel is the “epic of a world that has been abandoned by God” is a historiographical claim about the role of the work of art in structuring historical understanding and draw upon Lukács’ affinities with historian Hayden White’s Metahistory to both explicate Lukács and suggest how a cautious engagement with Lukács’ work is of potential relevance to contemporary historiography.