Culture and MaterialismVerso Books, 2020 M10 13 - 320 pages A comprehensive introduction to the work of one of the outstanding intellectuals of the twentieth century. Raymond Williams is a towering presence in cultural studies, most importantly as the founder of the apporach that has come to be known as "cultural materialism." Yet Williams’s method was always open-ended and fluid, and this volume collects together his most significant work from over a twenty-year peiod in which he wrestled with the concepts of materialism and culture and their interrelationship. Aside from his more directly theoretical texts, however, case-studies of theatrical naturalism, the Bloomsbury group, advertising, science fiction, and the Welsh novel are also included as illustrations of the method at work. Finally, Williams’s identity as an active socialist, rather than simply an academic, is captured by two unambiguously political pieces on the past, present and future of Marxism. |
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abstract active actual advertising alternative analysis argument Bahro basic become Bloomsbury Bloomsbury Group bourgeois capitalism capitalist central character Clive Bell complex consciousness course crisis critical crucial cultural revolution decisive difficult direct distinction dominant culture drama dystopian economic effect elements emphasis English English naturalism especially evident example existing experience fact fiction formation forms Goldmann human Hyde Park idea ideology important industrial novel intellectual kind labour Leonard Woolf limited literary literature look Lucien Goldmann major Marxist material materialist means of production mode modern naturalist nature necessary nineteenth century notion organization particular period perspective physical political position practice problems productive forces question radical reformism relationships science fiction seen sense significant Social Darwinism social order socialist society sociology specific structure struggle theatre theoretical theory Timpanaro tion tive tradition transformation utopian Virginia Woolf whole writing