Re: Re: Re: Re: Economics and Literature

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Brad DeLong wrote:

> > I'm amazed that the literary qualities of even chap. 1 of Capital
> > are being called into question. Section 4 is one of Marx's most
> > deservedly famous passages, the analysis of commodity fetishism,
> > which blends political economy, pyschology, philosophy, and
> > cultural analysis in dazzling ways. As much as I admire Keynes as a
> > stylist, nothing he wrote holds a candle to this.
> >
> > Doug
>
> The Yale Humanities Major speaks: §4 may be dazzling to you literati
> but 'tain't hardly accessible to the toiling masses...

First, I'd say that the toiling masses aren't as dumb as a lot of
intellectuals think. And second, I don't think Capital was written
for the toiling masses as its prime audience - though it'd be a lot
more comprehensible to them than just about anything in the JEP.

Doug