In this brilliant book, “as gripping and as readable as a first-rate thriller,” Francis Wheen, author of the most successful biography of Karl Marx, tells the story of Das Kapital and Karl Marx’s twenty-year struggle to complete his unfinished masterpiece. (The Sunday Telegraph) Born in a two room flat in London’s Soho amid political squabbles and personal tragedy, the first volume of Das Kapital was published in 1867, to muted praise. But after Marx’s death, the book went on to influence thinkers, writers, and revolutionaries, from George Bernard Shaw to V. I. Lenin, changing the direction of twentieth century history. In this “exhilarating read,” Wheen shows that, far from being a dry economic treatise, Das Kapital is like a vast Gothic novel whose heroes are enslaved by the monster they created: capitalism. (The Times, London) Furthermore, Wheen argues, as long as capitalism endures, Das Kapital demands to be read and understood.

《馬剋思的“資本論”傳》

《資本論》不僅是劃時代的經濟學著作，也是一部未完成的文學傑作，它擁有多重結構，並可從多方麵進行解讀：哥特式小說，維多利亞時代的情節劇，希臘悲劇，或斯威夫特式的諷刺作品。在所有這些方麵，《資本論》都自成一格。它並未真正結束，從某種意義上說明，馬剋思的著作保留著一個開放性的結尾，隨時觀照著今天。