[lbo-talk] Das Kapital Vol. 1 reading guide question

Yann Morvan ymorvan at cs.tcd.ie
Fri Dec 19 07:46:01 PST 2008


On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:13:24 -0000, B. <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Was it here or on some blog that I saw a recommended "reading approach"
> to Marx's Das Kapital, Volume 1?
>
> That is, someone who suggested, say, Chapter 14 first, as that provided
> a better backdrop and framework, then to Chapter 11, then on to Chapter
> X-Y-Z, etc...?
>

There is something of that kind in a preface by Louis Althusser to a 1969 French edition. You can find it translated here:

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1969/preface-capital.htm

skip to "Point I" to get the details.

I followed his advice to skip Part I at first (I had tried reading it in English before but it had pettered out somewhere in chapter 3) and it worked for me. I didn't do any of the other recommended jumps though.

Maybe wait until an oldy comments incase Althusser's 69 preface turned out to be a cosmic mistake destined to mislead younger readers irrevocably. In which case I shall commit sepuku.

Yann



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