Representing Capital: A Reading of Volume One

by Fredric Jameson

Representing Capital, Fredric Jameson's first book-length engagement with Marx's magnum opus, is a unique work of scholarship that records the progression of Marx's thought as if it were a musical score. The textual landscape that emerges is the setting for paradoxes and contradictions that struggle toward resolution, giving rise to new antinomies and a new forward movement. These immense segments overlap each other to combine and develop on new levels in the same way that capital itself does, stumbling against obstacles that it overcomes by progressive expansions, which are in
themselves so many leaps into the unknown. Marx's fundamental concepts are not presented philosophically, or in social-scientific terms, but rather as a series of figures produced by the development of the text. Jameson grasps Marx's work as a representational problem and an experiment in constructing the figure or model of the inexpressible phenomenon that is capital.

Genres: Philosophy, Economics, Politics, Theory, Nonfiction, 21st Century, Social Science

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2011

About the author

Fredric Jameson was an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He was best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodernity and capitalism. Jameson's best-known books include Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991) and The Political Unconscious (1981).

Reviews

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This is why the Marxian analysis of globalization, to which the very dynamic of Capital outlined here entitles us, allows a welcome recoding of these multiple situations of misery and enforced idleness, of populations helplessly in prey to the incursions of warlords and charitable agencies alike, of naked life in all the metaphysical senses in which the sheer biological temporality of existences without activity and without production can be interpreted. To think of all of this in terms of a kind of global unemployment rather than of this or that tragic pathos is, I believe, to be recommitted to the invention of a new kind of transformatory politics on a global scale" (p.151).

[Tom L · Rating 5 out of 5]

a bit slow moving to begin with, but works up to a very persuasive reading of capital that places unemployment at the centre of vol 1. lots of other jamesonian insights along the way. not jameson's tightest book to date, but sill packs a mean dialectical punch.

[Augusto Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si no hubiera leído antes el primer tomo del Capital, probablemente habría abandonado esta interesante lectura del mencionado tomo, tal vez perdido entre esotéricas disquicisiones filosóficas y referencias a ignotos estudiosos.

Dicho esto, éste breve libro es toda una revelación ya que desde la Introducción Jameson sale con la pierna en alto a declarar que el Capital de Marx no es un libro sobre política sino uno sobre el desempleo. Acto seguido, nuestro marxiano gringo, procede a hacer una analogía musical y divide al tomo en tres secciones.

La primera, abarca los tres primeros capítulos (o la primera parte del tomo) como si fuera no una overtura sino más bien una pieza satelital al estilo del Rheingold de Wagner; y establece que dicha sección es un buen entrenamiento en saber ver las esencias más allá de las apariencias. Además observa el juego dialéctico de Marx en el contenido dual del valor de la mercancía (valor de uso y valor de cambio) y el mecanismo de transformación en dinero a través de la fuerza de trabajo comprada para el proceso de producción.
La segunda sección corre de la partes segunda a la séptima del Capital en las cuales, de acuerdo a Jameson, se da una especie de cambio de velocidades -como desplazarse del materialismo dialéctico al histórico, siendo éste último dialéctico en sí mismo- al proponer y terminar resolviendo el acertijo de cómo es que el intercambio de equivalentes termina produciendo más dinero para el comprador de fuerza de trabajo, o sea D --> D', atravesando la temporalidad de la jornada de trabajo y la espacialidad de las fábricas, barrios obreros y el campo privatizado por el bailío, hasta desmenuzar la paradoja del uso de la maquinaria para enfrentar la tasa de ganancia decreciente, al tiempo que se origina desempleo y el ejército de reserva en la incesante búsqueda de las plusvalías absoluta y relativa.
La tercera sección es la octava parte del Capital que, siguiendo la analogía musical, hace de la coda de la obra. Jameson dice que podría considerarse como una propia entidad en sí -curiosamente la editorial soviética la publicó en un librito titulado "La Génesis del Capital" y fue lo primero del mencionado tomo que un servidor leyó hace varios años- en la que la historia toma un papel central.

Muy buena lectura del tomo 1, altamente recomendable, sobre todo si se ha leído antes la monumental obra de Marx.

[Jim Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Jim Cook’s review) Jameson’s book, Representing Capital, is an interesting riff on the first volume of Marx’s Capital. While the first two chapters are very heavy going the last half of the book is illuminating.

But it’s definitely not an “introduction” to capital (or to Marxism), as it’s marketed! Jameson’s commentary, while sometimes quite interesting, is difficult to follow at best and intentionally obscure at worst.

Although he focuses his attention on Vol I of Capital he has some worthwhile comments on many of Marx’s other writings, especially the Grundrisse.

I liked the great jacket art on the book. (Yuri I. Pimenov, “Increase the production of labour” [1927] Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow / The Bridgeman Art Library).

[Augusto Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hadn't I read before the whole Volume 1 of Marx's Capital, perhaps this book would've become an impossibility to deal with and almost two hundreds of unintelligible pages filled with philosophical musings and esoteric references to some unknown scholars. Glad that I did it.

That said, what Jameson provocatively states in the introduction is that Capital is not a book about politics and has nothing to do with politics, instead it is a book about unemployment. Which is fair enough, I reckon, because Marx's approach was to analyze and discover the mechanisms and dynamics of the capitalist mode of production, its motion in space. Throughout the seven chapters of this fine book, the author gives us the effect Marx's Capital had on him.

Jameson reading splits Capital in three sections:
The first one, which he joyfully relates to an initial piece at the beginning of a huge musical opus such as Wagner's Rheingold, comprised of the three chapters on the commodity and money. Here the reader is trained in how to seek the essences behind the appearances and learns to deal with the dialectic of value (use value and exchange value) throughout its crystallization after labour in the money form. Marx, says Jameson, walks us through a series of riddles where the riddle of riddles is capitalism itself, and how in its radical difference from all other social formations (or modes of production) it can exist in the first place.
The second section, almost the whole of Marx's Volume 1, runs from the second to the seventh parts of the book. Here, Jameson states that Marx posits a real problem and eventually solves it: How can the exchange of equals or equivalents produce a profit? Or the way M changes to M'. Some sort of shifting gears from dialectic to historic materialism -but still retaining all the dialectical contradictions of the capitalist system, its temporality and space- to solve the paradox of the transformation of money into capital, the working day, machinery wages: the production of absolute and relative surplus value, how the need to produce more surplus value generates unemployment.
The third section is the eight part of capital that Jameson, not unjustifiably, regards as a coda, where the book decompresses and could be read as a distinct entity on its own right. No wonder the Soviet publishers issued it as a book titled "the Genesis of Capital."

Great read, but one has to read the huge tome first.

[Nathan Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

probably 'deserves' three stars in terms of how well it stacks up against the best of marx's more orthodox interpreters as well as how much of it i find in accord with my own tendency -- but honestly i expected this, given Jameson's rep, to be a lot more speculative and glancing in its treatment of the text -- it is the former, quite often, but never in ways that indicate anything less than a pretty surefooted command of the material -- which, even if it gives away some bad faith cynicism on my part, left me pleasantly surprised!

[William]

Currently too esoteric for my understanding. I would appreciate a more direct and accessible discussion - something usable by, you know, the working class...

Anyway, some good commentary on here on the formative value and money. I might pick this up again in the future!

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A polysemic title if there ever was one.

[Peter Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second reading, and just after having finished reading Capital volume one itself. I do sometimes find Jameson a challenging read, but this is a short book and I found the first three chapters particularly insightful. Here Jameson describes the key challenge of Marx's Capital as the representation of what in reality is a complex whole system. Capital as a book then works as a cycle of explorations, each answering one set of conceptual problems and posing new ones, which Marx builds up in layers working towards a conceptual vision of the system as a whole. This chimes with my own reading of Capital, in particular that sense of trying to reconstruct and understand a complex system conceptually.

The later chapters present a more philosophy-oriented analysis, one less driven by the structure of the book itself. This feels less successful to me, but they do lead Jameson to a conclusion I support, which is that much of the modern left has lost a sense of the future focusing instead on defending the gains of the past (something I've written about before, and cover some of the books that tackle what a future-oriented left might look like here: https://marxadventure.wordpress.com/2... )

As a book which sets out how Marx's Capital volume one is structured, and therefore one way to approach reading it, this is very valuable - although as I think I said on first reading it probably requires you to already have a little background on Marx's thought to really get to grips with what Jameson is talking about. First introductions better try either David Harvey's "Companion" or Ben Fine's and Alfredo Saad-Filho's "Marx's Capital".

[Tauan Tinti · Rating 4 out of 5]

O livro começa excelente, e eu honestamente preferia que ele tivesse ficado mais tempo (o livro todo, na verdade) ao redor das sutilezas do D - M - D' e do problema de como tratar coisas diferentes como se fossem iguais. Ao invés disso, a razão boas sacadas / pirotecnia "olha o que eu sei fazer" vai tendendo ao constrangimento, o livro termina e a gente se dá conta que as ideias legais tinham acabado já bem antes.

[Samir Mechel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't agree with his central "thesis" that unemployment is the central concern of Capital, but he doesn't seem to argue that much himself. Lots of useful antinmies on the historical challenges of interpreting Capital (base and superstructure, avoiding technological determinism, etc.).

[Kelsey Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. Impenetrable.

[William Zeng · Rating 3 out of 5]

another reading of capital

[Peter Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an introduction to Volume One of Marx's Capital, this book does not quite meet the standard set by David Harvey's superb "Companion to Marx's Capital". On a purely practical level it suffers as a companion to reading the original work by not clearly referencing which sections Jameson is discussing throughout. The focus is very much on the philosophical underpinning, and particularly the dialectics of Marx's work, and less on the purely economics. This allows Jameson to bring out some interesting points, such as the contradiction between use value and exchange value, and it's resolution through the mediation of money.

In some ways the most interesting point comes right at the end. Despite insisting that Capital is not a political book as such (an interesting judgement to say the least) Jameson establishes it's tendency to unemployment as the key failure of capitalism. Associating a focus on domination as a secondary and political aspect tending to anarchism. Unemployment as a facet of exploitation is the key element which can form the underpinning for a renewed political project based on Marx.

This book is not an introduction to Marx's economics. Nor is it a replacement for the (irreplaceable) "Companion" of David Harvey. As a precursor to reading Capital though it uncovers the mind set and philosophy to facilitate a more critical reading.

[Gregg Wingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jameson has accomplished the rehabilitation of Karl Marx in our post-socialist world. Marx' immense contributions to the study of economics have long been overshadowed by his political writings. Dr. Jameson analysis of Capital Vol. I focuses on Marx the scientist and reveals how a scientific reading of the work provides a clearer understanding of the second era of globalization and the Great Recession.

While he concentrates on Marx' theme of the inherent need for unemployment in the capitalist system Jameson also highlights Marx' discussions on the importance of technological innovation and market expansionism in our economic processes. Both Jameson's and Marx' critiques of the welfare state, social democracy, and imperialism are illuminating for students of the modern and postmodern periods.

Whether you have read Capital Vol I or not this is a must read for those of us searching for our place and role in the 21st century.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Representing Capital is a smart title for its pun. Marx's Capital is a representation of the capital as a system at a particular historical space-time. So Jameson's representation or translation or transcoding of Marx's capital is just what's needed for our particular historical space-time: globalization and structural unemployment. Capital stands or falls a s a representation of system, says Jameson. And that's why it's necessary to represent Marxi's capital today, 'cause as the system evolves, the representation has to be updated as well.

[Max Hodges · Rating 1 out of 5]

a dead serious, completely impenetrable, unreadable book, full obscure jargon and unexplained literary references, an example of academia at its most loathsome and most removed from the real world.

[Umut Erdoğan (Kareler ve Sayfalar) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kapital okumasında kafası karşısan okur için Kapital'i Sahnelemek masanızın üzerinde duran ve sayfalarıyla sizinle konuşan bir danışman niteliğinde. Yazısı da blog'da.