György Lukács and the Eighteenth-Century Novel

Abstract This article explores György Lukács’s reflections on the relationship between the eighteenth-century novel and early modern capitalism. As such, it offers a critical overview of Lukács’s treatment of this subject in two major works – The Theory of the Novel and The Historical Novel – in the process, focusing on the evolution of his approach as a literary critic and contextualising this in relation to his wider theoretical writings. Ultimately, it seeks to demonstrate how the later Lukács’s critical approach differs from contemporary criticism dealing with the same subject, in particular concerning his engagement with the ramifications of his analysis for the present.