Western Marxism reached English readers only decades after its creation

Evidence

When the revised dissertation was published in 1973, the hopes and fears of the late 196os were still potent, the Vietnam War had two more years to run its course, and the New Left was not yet a spent force. The intellectual tradition that became known as Western Marxism was still described in an American anthology of 1972 as an “unknown dimension,”’ which might provide useful ideas for the struggles of the pres ent and future. Translations of its classical texts were only first becoming available at that time (Georg Lukacs’ History and Class Consciousness in 1971, for example, and Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment the following year), and there was a strong sense of intellectual treasure still to be excavated. Journals like New Left Review, Telos, and New German Critique tumbled over each other in their eagerness to present, explicate and apply ideas that promised to help subvert the status quo. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 10

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s ongoing Frankfurt School reading: the reception lag explains why later histories like this one became necessary and how the canon was constructed. — connects to: Key continental Marxist texts remained inaccessible to English-language readers; Western Marxism was effectively unknown in America until the early 1970s translations; Anti-Communist bias distorted English reception of Lukács and Sartre (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Key continental Marxist texts remained inaccessible to English-language readers #corroborates (0.94)
• Western Marxism was effectively unknown in America until the early 1970s translations #expands (0.88)
• Anti-Communist bias distorted English reception of Lukács and Sartre #complicates (0.72)
• Ethnic-nationalist tensions prevented Marxism from being Americanized #qualifies (0.70) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2251