Publisher's Synopsis
Karl Marx: Selected Poetry is a project of Panic! Poetry and Arts, and is meant not only to make available the poetic works of Karl Marx, but also, to show that Marx must be understood against the Romantic and Idealist background of his youth in the German university. Marx felt so strongly about his poetry that he not only prepared a book for his father in 1837, but also published two of his poems in Athenaum in 1841. Such an understanding will allow us to see Marx with new eyes, and to more fully understand the connection of his early philosophical works such as the Economic and Philosophical manuscripts of 1844 and Introduction to a Critique of Hegel's Doctrine of the State (1843) to his later so-called 'scientific' works, such as Capital and its discussion of alienation. Such an understanding will allow us to understand Marx at an existential level, and to comprehend the intensity of emotion that was connected to his commitment to world revolution. His work in the socialist movement was not merely a scientific affair, as Althusser would have us believe. Marx wrote much of this poetry when he was nineteen, around the year 1837, while he was at university. He makes ready use of mythological themes, theological references, love poetry to Jenny, fables and personal, philosophical explorations and disclosures, such as in the poem Transformation. He even wrote a poem To Hegel, and in others mentioned Schiller and Goethe. He also wrote a few plays, one of which, Oulanem: A Tragedy, the first act, is included in this volume. It is important to keep in mind that most of Marx's early works in philosophy and poetry were not published until 1932 and thus had no impact upon the early socialist movements, including Leninism. With the failure of the 20th century communist experiments, perhaps it is possible to re-assess Marx's work and his commitments from a more inclusive, non-scientistic perspective. ------ JL, 31 December 2013 James Luchte
