The Process of Democratization

George Steiner calls Lukacs "the one major critical talent to have emerged from the gray servitude of the Marxist world." This well-known writer on European literature combines a Marxist-Hegelian concern for the historical process with great artistic sensitivity.

Lukacs joined the Hungarian Communist party in 1918, serving in its first government until the defeat of Bela Kun. He spent many years in exile, first in Berlin and then, from 1933 to 1945, in Moscow, writing and studying. He later became a professor of aesthetics in Budapest, but after the 1956 revolution he was stripped of influence because of his too-friendly attitude to non-Marxist literatures. Steiner has written: "A Communist by conviction, a dialectical materialist by virtue of his critical method, he has nevertheless kept his eyes resolutely on the past. Despite pressure from his Russian hosts, Lukacs gave only perfunctory notice to the much-heralded achievements of Soviet Realism. Instead, he dwelt on the great lineage of eighteenth and nineteenth century European poetry and fiction. The critical perspective is rigorously Marxist, but the choice of themes is central European and conservative." Lukacs has concentrated mainly on criticism of Russian, French, and German authors and often writes in German. Robert J. Clements has reported that Hungarian young people regard him as somewhat passe.

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