Comments on The Pensive Quill: Terry Eagleton's "Why Marx Was Right":

James, I too found it a great review. John Murphy...

2012-11-26T08:26:31.248Z

James,

I too found it a great review. John Murphy is a reviewer of immense ability. I intend reading Francis Wheen’s biography on Marx sometime soon. That Demonisation of the Working Class sounds a good read and I hope to acquire it at some point along with that other one you recommended about snakes in suits.

Fionnchú, he finds Karl often an opportunist, ...

2012-11-11T20:41:00.462Z
Fionnchú,

he finds Karl often an opportunist, eager to castigate and condemn his foes for positions he once advocated!

A true revolutionary then!

Thanks, all. Marty, I tend to go on in my reviews ...

2012-11-11T19:52:36.305Z
Thanks, all. Marty, I tend to go on in my reviews too much, and I admit this one was shorter as a lot of folks on Amazon had already slagged it out over it before I got on. AM, I agree about Eagleton's wit, displayed well in his odd novella 'Saints + Scholars,' memoir 'The Gatekeeper' and his piss-take 'The Truth About the Irish.' I also posted a quick summation of Eagleton's little booklet Marx and a long review of a long, new, biography about to appear, Jonathan Sperber's Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life.

While Eagleton rallies around KM as a social democrat, and softens his hard edges, Sperber places KM as an heir to a post-1789 Enlightenment mindset rather than as a harbinger of ours. James, as I share your reaction to reading much of Marx himself, I rely on interpreters more, too. Dixie, Sperber agrees with your Grouchy take: he finds Karl often an opportunist, eager to castigate and condemn his foes for positions he once advocated!

The other Marx, Groucho once said... "Those ...

2012-11-10T19:58:32.404Z
The other Marx, Groucho once said...

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."

He could, of course have been inspired by Gerry Adams had he been around in those days.

Great review. I found reading Marx painstaking to ...

2012-11-10T14:03:56.576Z
Great review. I found reading Marx painstaking to say the least. However, I read a great wee book last week and for me being a child of the 80's simply hit the spot into any working class thinking and barriers against it from thatcher to present. I would recommend it, very factual, entertaining and you will not want to put it down. I didnt. The book is CHAVS "The Demonization of the working class" Owen Jones.

John, a thorough review here as you so often pro...

2012-11-10T13:25:35.893Z
John,

a thorough review here as you so often produce. It is timely too for this blog given that James has started a discussion on socialism in another thread. Eagleton is a very witty writer. He would not be a fan of the cults and sects that have flourished aorund Marxism.

Dont really know what to make of this post it is r...

2012-11-10T13:03:34.555Z
Dont really know what to make of this post it is really interesting and definitely fufils the function of a review ie leaving the reader to want more,in that respect it is a great post well worth reading again,it just seems to finish when it starts to get interesting..