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Malcolm Kevin Read
In the immediate aftermath of 1968, a number of works on Marxist literary theory appeared that were destined to command the attention not only of writers who were re- cognizably ‘Marxist’ or ‘Marxian’ but of others who boasted little in the way of allegiance to the Marxist tradition, however broadly defined. Two such works were Terry Eagleton’s Criticism and Ideology (1976) and Fredric Jameson’s The Political Unconscious (1981). While deeply and confessedly indebted to Louis Althusser for kick-starting their careers, inspirationally speaking, both Eagleton and Jameson were subsequently to reveal an ambiguous, even troubled relation to the French Marxist: Eagleton, through a series of texts that, their unquestionable distinction notwithstanding, run hot and cold in their commitment to ‘Althusserianism’; Jameson, through a brand of Hegelianizing Marxism that finally proved unable to take on board the full complexity of the Althusserian legacy. Preceding both these scholars chronologically, and bearing comparison with them in terms of intellectual range, ambition, and productivity, was Juan Carlos Rodríguez, whose Teoría e historia de la producción ideológica appeared in 1974. Except that there the similarities end, for whereas Eagleton and Jameson were destined to achieve star status within their profession, a rather different career trajectory awaited Rodríguez.
