Literature is a skillful production and a product Social consciousness. But it is also an enterprise. Books are not only the manifestations of significance but also commodities produced by the publishers and at the same time they are salable commodities for profit. A drama is not a mere collection of literature in written form but drama also is a profitable capitalist business. It employs the people like author, director, actor, technicians ete. who produce commodities for the consumption of the audience. The critics are not only analyzers of literature but the specialists employed by the state also. They ideologically prepare the Students to work in favour of capitalism. The authors are not only transform the psychological structure of the individual not but I also the employed labours for the production of commodities by the publishing institutions. Marx writes in his Theories of Surplus Value that an author is a labourer not in the sense on how much are thoughts or ideas he produces but in the sense to what degree he makes the publisher richer in lieu of his wages. There is a gulf of difference between the artistic production and other social productions in connection with the economic base. But in other words, it is a part of the economic base. It is an economic activity, It is one of the productive activities in connection with commodity also. The Marxist literary critics are of the opinion that art in a social production. This idea determines the character of art. We may consider Literature as a mere lesson. But we may also take it for a social activity. It is a kind of socio-economic production which juxtaposes with other kind of productions. And it is connected with them.
② Beniamin, a German Marxist literary critic writes in his rare essay “ The Author as producer (1934) that the question raised by the Marxist literary critics regarding literature is that to determine its stand fine connection with the relation of the contemporary productions.
What Beniamin wants to say is that the art is dependent on the productive techniques like other productions. These techniques are painting, publishing, some kinds of dramatic presentations. These techniques are ingredients of the productive forces & art. Some social relation of production are related to the development of some kinds of productions. When the relation of production becomes contradictory to the productive forces, the revolutionary atmosphere is prepared. A revolutionary artist has to make the development and to bring about a revolutionary change in the productive forces of art. In doing this the artist has to make a new social-relation with the audience or the consumers. The revolutionary artist has to overcome the dialects which keeps the art away from the masses and keeps it confined to a limited section of the people. The duty of the revolutionary artist is to develop the media like cinema, radio, television, photography, the recording of songs etc and to change the old-media of the artistic production. It is not only the question propaganda of the revolutionary ideas through the existing media but also a question of bringing about a revolutionary change in these media. A real revolutionary artist is engaged not only in art material but also he has to think about its means of production Commitment to Art does not mean only the presentation of right political opinion. It is expressed id through how the artist can create a new artistic form within his capacity and how he can create a chain of co-operation among the author the reader and the audience.
Bertolt Brecht was a Marxist literary critic. Beniamin was his intimate friend. The relation between them is noteworthy in the world of Marxist Literary criticism. Brecht knew how to change the political content of art. He also knew the art of changing the process of… production. The experimental theatre (Epic Theatre) was an example to Beniamin. Beniamin says that Brekht was able to change the relationships between stage and audience, reader and director, director and actor. Formal naturalist theatre creates illusion of reality. Brekht created a new theatre denying the formal naturalist theatre which is based on ideological criticism in bourgeois theatre. His famous ‘alienation effect” is the basis of Brekht’s criticism. It means that acting ought to represent the real world directly. His aim is to create a sense of fidelity of the audience towards the theatre with the help of illusion of the reality so that the audience become overwhelmed taking it for real. The function of theatre is not to reflect a static reality. Rather it is to show how the characters and the phenomena are produced historically and how it is possible for them to differ from each other and even. That is why theatre becomes an example of the process of the production: It may be called a thinking rather than a reflection..
Epic Theatre of Brekht does not change only the content of the artistic production, it also changes the form. Yet his theory is an important development. It has three inter-related aspects: First, to add a tnew dimension, uston regarding the form, secondly, a new definition of an author, thirdly -this new interpretation regarding artistic production. Form enriches the type of ideological acceptance. It gives shape to the relations of production among the artist, audience or consumer. This type is as of vital question to determine the social relationship between producer and consumer as to determine the form of literary work. The literary work which is sold to thousands of customers in the market is characteristically different such as the theatre to play written for domestic performance is different- such as the the play written for the dramatic performance is different from the type of form of the play written for the masses.
