ABSTRACT
In his review essay on The Theory of the Novel, Paul de Man arrives at the following conclusion: Time in this essay acts as the substitute for the organic continuity Lukacs seems unable to do without. Such a linear conception of time had in fact been present throughout the essay. It is important to bear in mind that in his 1962 Preface, Lukacs himself pinpointed both the continuity and discontinuity between his early and later theories of the novel. This chapter discusses Lukacs later theory of the novel from the aspects of both de Man’s review essay and the author’s 1962 Preface to the early work. In December 1934, Lukacs delivered a lecture on the occasion of a literary debate in Moscow at the Institute of Philosophy of the Communist Academy. By characterizing The Theory of the Novel as an ethically subversive book, Lukacs had its anti-Hegelian message in mind.
