Towards a Sociology of the Novel

by Lucien Goldmann

pp.181

Genres: Sociology, Philosophy, Literary Criticism

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Lucien Goldmann was a French philosopher and sociologist of Jewish-Romanian origin. A professor at the EHESS in Paris, he was a Marxist theorist.

Goldmann was born in Bucharest, Romania, but grew up in Botoşani.

He studied law at the University of Bucharest and the University of Vienna under the Austromarxist jurist Max Adler.[1] In 1934, he went to the University of Paris to study political economy, literature, and philosophy.[1] He moved to Switzerland in November 1942, where he was placed in a refugee camp until 1943.[1] Through Jean Piaget's intervention, he was subsequently given a scholarship to the University of Zurich,[1] where he completed his PhD in philosophy in 1945 with a thesis entitled Mensch, Gemeinschaft und Welt in der Philosophie Immanuel Kants (Man, Community and world in the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant).

Reviews

[ethel —]

L'interminable introduction terminée, je considère l'étude achevée (mes 20 pages de notes me suffisent), le yapping sur Malraux ce sera une autre fois merci

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب ارزشمند را با ترجمه ی زنده یاد محمد پوینده دیده ام. کاری پر ارزش که به فارسی زبانان هدیه شده. محمد پوینده با دقت و به زیبایی، زبان مشکل معمول در این متن را در فارسی تا حد ممکن آسان و قابل فهم کرده، مضافن این که کتاب، در انتها حاوی یک واژه نامه ی نسبتن کامل است تا خواننده ای که زبان می داند، به ترمینولوژی مباحث مربوطه به گونه ای که خود مایل است، مراجعه کند. در عین حال پیوستی هم در نقد نظرات لوسین گلدمن و آثار ترجمه شده اش به فارسی دارد.

[Will O’Neill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goldmann rewrites Theory of the Novel, incorporating the later Lukács back into it. This adds very little value. Admittedly I skipped the Malraux chapter, as I've only read The Conquerors, but the theory is quite weak, non-dialectical, and embarrassingly derivative of Lukács' early style. It would be perfectly fine for a beginner to Marxist theory, except for the fact that Goldmann uses decidedly non-canonical examples: any reader who's familiar with Malraux and Robbe-Grillet is going to have enough of a handle on literary theory for this to be useless as an introduction.

[Pierre-Jean Colas · Rating 2 out of 5]

On ne sort pas vraiment plus avancé sur la question après avoir achevé la lecture de cet ouvrage.

Du moins, l'analyse des oeuvres de Malraux donne envie de se pencher sur ces dernières.