Socialist Literature

Al-Dabbagh (English, United Arab Emirates U.) presents a study of socialist literary theory and cultural transformation. He surveys the views on literature by Marx, Lenin, and Mao. Some of the key issues explored include the place of the writer in society, socialist realism, the Soviet and Chinese Cultural Revolutions, bourgeois regressions and otherwise opposition in Trotsky and Gramsci, and proletarian heroism. The literature surveyed, including poetry, novels, and plays, is exclusively from former Soviet and Chinese writers. A final chapter discusses current developments in socialist literary theory. This book is not indexed. Annotation Ac2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Abdulla Al-Dabbagh is Professor of English Literature at the United Arab Emirates University. He holds a BA from Wesleyan University, an M.Litt. from Cambridge University, and a PhD from Essex University. He has taught English, American, and world literatures, literary criticism, comparative literature, and translation at universities in Iraq, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. He is the author of Literary Orientalism, Postcolonialism, and Universalism; Shakespeare, the Orient, and the Critics; and D. H. Lawrence: A Study of Literary Fascism.