This is the first part of a lecture delivered by Agnes Heller at the 2018 International Conference on Marxist Critical Theory in Eastern Europe hosted by Sichuan University and co-sponsored by Thesis Eleven. Heller discusses the life and work of her mentor and teacher György Lukács.

The conference was sponsored by the College of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University and the Key Project of the China National Social Science Fund “Bibliography and Research of Eastern Europe Marxist Aesthetics”, co-sponsored by Thesis Eleven Journal, the Research Center for Marxist Theory of Literature, Sichuan University, and the Marxist Aesthetics Committee of the China Association of Aesthetics.