Robert Eaglestone is a British academic and writer whose work deeply explores how literature 'thinks' and investigates ethical questions. His scholarship focuses on contemporary literature, literary theory, and modern European philosophy, often drawing on insights from memory and trauma studies. Eaglestone is concerned with how literature helps people make sense of themselves and the contemporary world. His writings emphasize that contemporary fiction is a crucial tool for exploring and shaping our identity today.
The book offers an accessible introduction to the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, highlighting their significant impact on literary and cultural studies, as well as modern languages. It explores how their ideas continue to influence contemporary reading, thinking, and everyday life, making complex concepts understandable and relevant to various disciplines.
Despite centuries of arguments, no one can agree on what literature is, or how to study it. But, argues Eaglestone, it is precisely the open-ended nature of literature that makes it such a rewarding and useful subject of study. Literature is a living conversation which provides endless opportunities to rethink and reinterpret our world--
Doing English presents the ideas and debates that shape how we 'do' English today, explaining arguments about the value of literature, the canon, Shakespeare, theory, politics, and the subject itself. This immensely readable book is the ideal introduction to studying English Literature.
In thie Very short introduction Robert Eaglestone explores the major themes, patterns, and debates surrounding the contemporary novel. From genre, form, and experimentalism, to the relationship between globalization and terror, and the impact of technology, Eaglestone examines how contemporary fiction reflects both the world in which we live and the artistic concerns of writers and readers alike. -- Cover.
This book serves as an introduction to the views of the anticolonial thinker Frantz Fanon and charts his influence on postcolonial studies, literary critism, and cultural studies.
Focusing on the Holocaust's profound impact, the author presents postmodernism as a reaction to this historical atrocity. He introduces innovative perspectives on testimony and contemporary Holocaust fiction, delves into debates surrounding Holocaust history, and examines its significance for modern philosophy. The exploration extends to the implications of the Holocaust for concepts of reason, ethics, and human existence, prompting readers to reconsider the intersection of history and philosophical inquiry.
Questioning not just literary but social, political and cultural assumptions about knowledge and power, Greenblatt's work has had a huge impact on contemporary theory. This work discusses ideas specific to particular works and explores the relation of Greenblatt's thought to new historicism as well as other modes of criticism.