György Lukács

György Lukács (1885–1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic whose theories of reification, class consciousness, and the historical novel shaped Western Marxism and literary studies.

Karl Marx: Karl Marx was a German philosopher and political economist whose critique of capitalism founded Marxism. Lukács reworked Marx’s critique of commodity production into a theory of reification.
Reification: Reification is the treatment of human relations and activities as fixed things with independent, object-like existence. Lukács made this process central to his account of capitalist society and consciousness.
The Theory of the Novel: The Theory of the Novel is Lukács’s 1916 philosophical study of the novel as a form shaped by modernity. It develops his account of the novel’s relation to a world no longer experienced as an integrated whole.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher whose dialectical account of history and social life influenced later thinkers. Lukács drew on Hegel’s ideas of mediation and totality while recasting them in Marxist terms.
History and Class Consciousness: History and Class Consciousness is Lukács’s 1923 collection of essays on Marxism, reification, and proletarian consciousness. This influential book gave his mature theory of reification its best-known early formulation.
Historical materialism: Historical materialism explains social change through material production, class relations, and their historical development. Lukács treats social reality as historically produced rather than fixed or natural.
Commodity: A commodity is a good or service produced for exchange in a market. The commodity form provides the model through which Lukács explains reification across social life.
The Historical Novel: The Historical Novel is Lukács’s 1937 study of the development and social significance of historical fiction. The book applies his Marxist method to how novels represent historical change and social forces.
Rosa Luxemburg: Rosa Luxemburg was a Polish-German Marxist theorist and revolutionary active in the German socialist movement. Lukács engaged with Luxemburg’s account of revolutionary politics and the role of spontaneity.
Western Marxism: Western Marxism is a tradition of Marxist theory that emphasizes philosophy, culture, and consciousness in capitalist societies. Lukács’s essays helped inaugurate this tradition by joining Marxist politics to philosophical analysis.

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