Abstract
Robert Sayre and Michael Lowy, Reification and Conspicuous Consumption in Great ; Starting from the notion that literature can provide an irreplaceable, sui generis illumination of social reality, the article attempts to illustrate the proposition by examining what The Great Gatsby can bring to the understanding of those fundamental aspects of modern society analyzed by Marx/Lukacs and Thorstein Veblen : reification and conspicuous consumption. The article demonstrates the presence of reification throughout the novel, the depth of its penetration in the character of Gatsby, and its partial occultation through the narrative point of view. The authors then explore the particular mode of reification in the leisure class constituted by conspicuous consumption, through a comparison of the novel with Veblen's analysis of the phenomenon.
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