Abstract

"Contrary to the predictions that consigned Marx to oblivion after the fall of the Berlin Wall, his ideas are once more the object of analysis and debate. Around the world, Marx's writings have been reprinted or brought out in new editions, and there are more new studies of his work. Of particular importance has been the resumed and ongoing publication, started in 1998, of the Marx Engels Gesamtausgabe, the historical-critical edition of the complete works of Marx and Engels. The MEGA corpus suggests that, despite claims to the contrary, Marx is not at all an author about whom everything has already been said or written, and his profile is changing. Combining rigorous scholarly analysis with a clear and accessible style of writing, this intellectual biography positions itself as part of a renewed exploration of Marx. It offers an original reading of the last phase of Marx's intellectual development, which has hitherto pretty much been ignored. Dispelling the myth that Marx ceased to write in his final years, the author points out the relevance of previously unknown or neglected late writings, many of which remain unavailable in English. What's more, the book challenges the long-lasting misrepresentation of Marx as a Eurocentric and economistic thinker who was fixated on class conflict alone. Readers are thus invited to reconsider, for example, Marx's ideas in light of late remarks on anthropology, non-Western societies, and the critique of European colonialism. Availing itself of sources that have still not been published in English, the book fills a gap in the existing literature on Marx and suggests an innovative reassessment of some of his key ideas"--