author
György Lukács
1885–1971
A major voice in 20th-century thought, this Hungarian philosopher and critic helped shape Western Marxism and changed how many readers think about literature, realism, and class consciousness.
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About the author
Born in Budapest in 1885, György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, critic, and aesthetician. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes him as an influential figure in European communist thought, while widely used reference sources also credit him as one of the founders of Western Marxism.
He is especially remembered for The Theory of the Novel and History and Class Consciousness, works that made him central to debates about modern literature, reification, and the social role of art. His writing joined philosophy and criticism in a way that still attracts readers interested in both political thought and the novel.
Lukács lived through revolution, war, and dramatic political change, and those experiences shaped both his public life and his books. He died in Budapest in 1971, leaving behind a body of work that remains important in philosophy, literary studies, and Marxist theory.