From the inelectubale to the horrific: or how suffering in Marx seeks its emancipation

Abstract

This paper addresses the ideas of the horrific and suffering in Marx. By drawing on the metaphor of the vampire, I suggest that what happens under capitalism to human beings involves an understanding of the political economy of the dead. In order to conceptualize the feeling of suffering, I draw a comparison between Capital and the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Here my suggested approach is that the German expression of Selbstgefühl der Arbeiter cannot be translated as class consciousness, such a thing turns the sensibility of the historical subject into something impracticable. Overall, I argue that literature in Marx is not a mere supplementary ornament, but rather is essential to the critique.