HUMANITY’S CURSED BLESSING: THE CONFUSION AND CONTRADICTIONS OF ENLIGHTENMENT/MODERNITY – A MARXIST PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how Marxist literary theory affirms and protests the spirit of Enlightenment and modernity. The argument is made here that the road from tradition to modernity is not a single strait road, that in fact, it is a path littered with contradictions, ambivalences and discontents. When it came, the Enlightenment was heralded and lauded as a breakthrough; it ushered in a new spirit of interrogating everything. Ironically, that spirit has come back to haunt the Enlightenment itself. Indeed, it has proved to be its very nemesis such that modernity/Enlightenment cannot be taken as “givens” which are out there and immune to questioning. It is thus imperative that this discussion begins by defining the “spirit of Enlightenment/modernity.” The next step will be to outline the tenets of Marxist literary theory. The third and final part will illustrate how the said theory affirms and/protests Enlightenment and modernity. To this end, George Orwell’s Animal Farm and The Trial of Dedan Kimathi by Thiong’o Ngugi wa and Micere Mugo will be used.