born April 13, 1885, Budapest, Hung.
died June 4, 1971, Budapest
Hungarian philosopher and critic.
Born into a wealthy Jewish family, he joined the Hungarian Communist Party in 1918. In History and Class Consciousness (1923), he developed a Marxist philosophy of history and laid the basis for his literary criticism by linking the development of form in art with the history of the class struggle. A major figure during the 1956 Hungarian uprising, he was deported but was allowed to return in 1957. His works include the essay collection Soul and Form (1911) and The Historical Novel (1955). His earlier work, especially Theory of the Novel (1920) and History and Class Consciousness (1923), is now considered superior to his later Stalinist-influenced criticism, which celebrated the official Soviet policy of Socialist Realism .