EPIC OR TRAGEDY? KARL MARX AND POETIC FORM IN THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO

Although The Communist Manifesto of 1848 was clearly not intended as a work of poetry, this article considers the merits of reading it according to the aesthetic criteria of epic poetry and of tragedy respectively. Following a brief treatment of the role of poetry in Karl Marx’s evolution as a philosopher and critic, the article then speculates that the identification of certain poetic themes in the text can aid our understanding of the Manifesto’s political meaning, particularly in light of the “dialectical Prometheanism” that played such a defining role in Marx’s intellectual and political universe.