Critical Considerations on the Fetishism of Commodities

The theory of commodity fetishism, in its received form, is too strong for critical cultural inquiry. However, while inflationary tendencies have been marked in post-Marxian developments of the theory/-/-beginning with Lukács/-/-the problem begins with Marx's original formulation. The analysis of the value form in Capital does not logically support Marx's thesis of universal fetishism in regularized commodity production. Rather, fetishism is a contingent phenomenon, to be probed in properly historical forms of analysis. Returning to its beginnings in a study of narrative disavowal in Conrad's novels, the article then examines fetishism and the figuration of capital in Nostromo.