Marx and Flaubert on Historical Progress

by Desiree D'Alessandro

The Modern and the Postmodern

Coursera: Wesleyan University
Professor Michael S. Roth
Mar. 3, 2013

This text will explore the similarities and the dissimilarities between the thoughts and
notions contributed by Prussian-German philosopher Karl Marx(1818-1883) and the French
writer Gustave Flaubert(1821-1880). This analysis will be accompanied by brief synopses
of Marx's writings Estranged Labour(1844) and The Communist Manifesto(1888), alongside
Flaubert's Madame Bovary(1856). Ultimately, this text will reveal the continued
contributions of Marx in the context of the Age of Enlightenment and introduce the
Romantic Period's historical counter-shift in the contributions by Flaubert.

Widely considered an Enlightenment thinker, Marx was interested in using

rationality and reason to understand Modernity and its historical relevance. Using the
Hegelian dialectic model, Marx knew that history was where one must turn in order to
uncover the truth. Hegel's dialectic processes revealed that all history revolves around the
following formula; Thesis, facing off against its counter Antithesis, and the result being
negation, formally called Synthesis. It is important to note that this Synthesis stage is not
necessarily a compromise, but it is a change that carries with it the residue of previous
conflict. This idea of conflict is critical to Marx's view on society, politics, and capitalism, as
he begins to critique economical injusticethe lens by which he rationalizes Modernity.

Marx is famously quoted as saying that, "The history of all hitherto existing societies
is the history of class struggles." His earlier writing, Estranged Labour(1844), extensively
documents the escalated production of commodities and the commoditization of the
working class in a vicious cycle: "The devaluation of the world of men is in direct proportion
to the increasing value of the world of things. Labor produces not only commodities; it
produces itself and the worker as a commodity." This resulting feeling of alienation and
estrangement is the exact opposite one should achieve in their work. For Marx, prior to
exploitation, a worker would take pride in his work and self-worth, would find his production
fulfilling, and would learn about himself, his capacities and limitations, through his work.
Thus there is a direct contradiction in the estranged laborer, whose work is external to
himself and depriving, and he is left to pine for the animal functions"eating, drinking,
procreating"outside of work which make him feel more human. This conflict must be
resolved for Marx, who later writes of the looming social revolution of the proletariat against
the control of the bourgeois, and the looming fall of capitalist society in The Communist
Manifesto(1888).

By contrast, Flaubert expressed that he was extremely disinterested in politics,

economical struggle, and was completely dissolutioned by the revolutionary wave
throughout Europe in 1848. He saw political writings as banal, hypocritical, and
unintelligent, resenting the popularity of works archived by political authors such as Marx:
"What speeches! . . . Nothing could make me more scornful of success, considering the
price at which it is purchased. I sat unmoved [and] nauseated. . ." Flaubert's interests in
moving away from politics and taking up a keen interest in Art helps mark the Romantic
Period as a reaction against Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Flaubert
advocates art, aesthetics, and literature, and his strenuous efforts reflect pride in his literary
work. His masterpiece, Madame Bovary(1856), took five years to complete and is
recognized for his perfectionist prose and narration. The fictional novel accounts the lives of
Charles and Emma Bovary, in what many consider a "commentary on the entire self-
satisfied, deluded, bourgeois culture of Flaubert's time period." This belief is consistent with
Flaubert's remark in a letter to George Sand, "What is the best form in which to express
one's opinion[?] . . . It seems to me the best way is to depict things that exasperate
you. Dissection is revenge."

Interestingly, we see that much-like Roussaeu, Flaubert becomes entangled in his

resistance to economical and political discourse, while contributing to the very ongoing
dialogue he is against. Flaubert advocated Romantic modes of escape from the harsh
realities of Modernity. He wanted to reignite feeling, emotion, and individual imagination as
the transcendence of man in the aesthetic realm. Marx similarly saw that the move away
from man feeling estranged and alienated in his labour was of critical importance for his
transcendence in the political and economic realm. Ultimately, both thinkers in alignment
with the corresponding historical movements in which they representMarx with the Age
of Enlightenment and Flaubert with Romanticismsaw historical progress inherently tied to
the progress of man.