ABSTRACT
Within the field of European literature, it would be no exaggeration to suggest that the twentieth century begins with the modernist pantheon of the late 1800s. Philosophy follows in due course, and asks how modernist literature, with its stylistic earnest, its attacks on bourgeois morality, and its relentless will to transcend existing literary conventions can yield a unique perspective on modern life. Sometimes the development of new forms reinforces the value of more traditional literature. In its different forms and permutations, Marxist philosophy theorizes the relationship between literature and society, be it with reference to the realist novel or the modernist work of art. It looks at how literature can voice the contradictions of modern life and point beyond existing societal forms by offering glimpses of a worthy, human existence. Within a French context, phenomenological and Marxist approaches to literature converge in the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
