Literature and Ideology

Abstract

Throughout this study the term ‘ideology’ is used to refer to forms of thought and rhetoric which present the interests of a particular group as the interests of the majority, the nation, or the whole community. As Miliband suggests, Marx and Engels saw ideology as ‘precisely the attempt to “universalize” and give “ideal” form to what are no more than limited, class-bound ideas and interests: it is in this sense that they use the word “ideology” pejoratively, as meaning a false representation of reality’.¹ This is not to say that ideologies are always cynically constructed and employed by one class to deceive and manipulate another. The most sincere exponents and believers of a particular ideology often belong to the class which that ideology represents. However, rhetoricians and others from various backgrounds usually appear to lend their pens, voices, and physical might to the promotion of specific ideologies.