Terry Eagleton is widely recognized as Britain's most influential living literary critic and theorist. His extensive body of work delves deeply into the relationship between literature, ideology, and aesthetics, often through a Marxist lens. Eagleton meticulously examines how literary texts are shaped by social and political forces, and in turn, how these texts influence our understanding of the world. His approach is noted for its intellectual rigor, yet remains accessible, making him a pivotal figure in contemporary literary theory.
A volume incorporating much of the best of Wilde's The Critic As Artist; The Picture of Dorian Grey; The Soul of Man Under Socialism; Lady Windermere's Fan; The Importance of Being Ernest; The Ballad of Reading Gaol; The Harlot's House; The Sphinx; The Artist; The House of Judgment; A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over Educated.
A native Briton describes America and its citizens through his English eyes, humorously questioning their choices in bumper stickers, use of adjectives and superlatives, and their overall lack of appreciation for the teapot.
"The Ideology of the Aesthetic" presents a history & critique of the concept of the aesthetic throughout modern Western thought. As such, this is a critical survey of modern Western philosophy, focusing in particular on the complex relations between aesthetics, ethics & politics. Eagleton provides a brilliant & challenging introduction to these concerns, as characterized in the work of Kant, Schiller, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Lukacs, Adorno, Habermas & others. Wide in span, as well as morally & politically committed, this is his major work to date. It forms both an original enquiry & an exemplary introduction.
Part of Radical Thinkers series, this work presents key texts by philosophers and thinkers.
A renowned literary theorist reconsiders previous stances and offers his latest thinking on the nature of literature and literary study
Unravels the many different definitions of ideology, explores the history of the concept from the Enlightenment to postmodernism, and interprets the works of major philosophers.
Suitable for scientists, theologians, people of faith and people of no faith, as well as general readers eager to understand the God Debate, this title demolishes the 'superstitious' view of God held by most atheists and agnostics, and offers in its place a revolutionary account of the Christian Gospel.
An irreverent trip through American culture by a critic who cracks jokes as easily as one would crack walnut shells (Washington Post).
Terry Eagleton's Tragedy provides a major critical and analytical account of the concept of 'tragedy' from its origins in the Ancient world right down to the twenty-first century.A major new intellectual endeavour from one of the world's finest, and most controversial, cultural theorists.Provides an analytical account of the concept of 'tragedy' from its origins in the ancient world to the present day.Explores the idea of the 'tragic' across all genres of writing, as well as in philosophy, politics, religion and psychology, and throughout western culture.Considers the psychological, religious and socio-political implications and consequences of our fascination with the tragic.
Eagleton investigates the contradictions, difficulties, and significance of the modern search for a replacement for God. Engaging with a wide range of ideas, issues, and thinkers from the Enlightenment to today, the author discusses the state of religion before and after 9/11, the ironies surrounding Western capitalism's part in spawning not only secularism but also fundamentalism, and the unsatisfactory surrogates for the Almighty invented in the post-Enlightenment era. Eagleton reflects on the unique capacities of religion, the possibilities of culture and art as modern paths to salvation, the so-called war on terror's impact on atheism, and a host of other topics of concern to those who envision a future in which just and compassionate communities thrive. --From publisher description.