Abstract: It is a former Soviet Union Marxist-Leninist essayists’ one-sidedness to explain the Marxist view of literature merely as a realistic view. In order to restore its original features it is necessary to clarify its philosophical perspectives of history and other relevant issues. F. Engels has used some terms of the Marxist philosophy of history in the theory of literature and taken aesthetical and historical criticisms as the highest criteria. Through a clarification of historical visions of the Marxist outlook on literature, we may further describe its core of “world literature” and major theoretical constituents.

Key words: philosophy of history, Soviet Union-style Marxist-Leninist essay on literature, Marxist view of literature, misreading and new interpretation