Afterword: Whither Engels?

Abstract

This concluding chapter briefly sums up the major achievements presented in the volume and comments critically on the strengths and weaknesses of current scholarship in Engels-studies. It then questions what “Engels” means to authors and readers when it appears as a proper noun in print. Does “Engels” mean a collection of texts, as they have been recovered, edited, transcribed, and translated into published volumes? Does “Engels” refer to a formerly living individual with a huge variety of interests, projects, plans, contacts, associates, friends, enemies, and feelings about all these things over many years? Do we always need to understand “Engels” within a Marxist framing as Marx’s “second fiddle” and “junior partner”? I pose these questions for readers and invite them to ponder their answers.