A concise, lively account of Marxist thought and American culture.
The Incomplete Projects reevaluates the role of Marxist theory in the study of culture and makes a case for Marxist cultural analysis as a relevant political practice. Part I provides the reader with a comprehensive and lively overview of Marxist thought. Part II is a collection of case studies analyzing a wide range of cultural objects, from the novels of Philip K. Dick to the television series M*A*S*H. The objects of study are either American or British in origin, reflecting the dominance of Anglo-American culture in our new global economy; they are also what Freedman describes as 'middle culture,' falling somewhere between the bifurcated categories of high and low art. Through these case studies, Carl Freedman shows that it is impossible to make sense of capitalism without the Marxist critique and demonstrates that cultural analysis is an especially appropriate form of discourse in which to begin thinking politically. This book is particularly timely and relevant to anyone interested in the study of culture.
“The extended introduction to The Incomplete Projects is as lucid an explanation of the economics underlying the Marxist approach to the world in general and to history in particular as I can imagine anyone writing today. It will be especially informative for the young and the curious. This collection should be as exciting for our time as Caudwell's Studies & Further Studies in a Dying Culture were for the 1930s.”—Samuel R. Delany, author of Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
"Few books I have read in recent years make their theoretical points across such a range of cultural artifacts. Freedman writes lucidly, often powerfully."—Khachig Tölölyan, editor of Diaspora
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Carl Freedman is Professor of English at Louisiana State University. He is the author of Critical Theory and Science Fiction (Wesleyan, 2000).
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