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This classic work is designed to cover all of the major movements in literary studies in this century. Noted for its clear, engaging style and unpretentious treatment, Literary Theory has become the introduction of choice for anyone interested in learning about the world of contemporary literary thought. The second edition contains a major new survey chapter that addresses developments in cultural theory since the book's original publication in 1983, including feminist theory, postmodernism, and poststructuralism.
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LibraryThing member billmcn
If you only read one book about literary theory...well, who would blame you? Still, the educated layperson who wants to bump their understanding of contemporary literary criticism up to a respectable cocktail party level probably can't do much better than Eagleton's slim, thoroughly accessible
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introduction to the subject. Literary Theory traces the history of literature as an academic discipline from English Romanticism, through Saussure and semiotics, all the way to the fashionable heavy-hitters of postmodernism. Neither an acolyte nor a debunker, Eagleton gives each theory a clear explanation and a fair shake in crisp, jargon-free prose. He is up front about his own ideological slants (feminist, Marxist), and although the last of these can at times make him sound quaintly Cold War, at no point does he drop into didacticism. This is a book that truly lives up to its subtitle. Show Less
LibraryThing member poetontheone
With great insight and a dynamic approach, Eagleton traces the progression of literary theory by grounding it firmly in the history of its intellectual development and the interplay and contrasts between different schools of thought. His ultimate conclusion that theory move beyond the literary to
I read this book while a junior at University and wish I would have read it sooner. I now feel like I can approach works by thinkers such as Barthes, Bakhtin, or Lacan without hesitation. This should be read by all English majors, and sooner rather than later. Theory gives us the tools to talk about and analyze texts in order to fully investigate their cultural implications, and this book is a vital tool in beginning to understand what theory is.
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the cultural, though more commonplace today, is still shocking to some intellectuals and critics today. Though this book is now a couple decades old, it provides a well-rounded understanding of the foundations and development of literary theory in the twentieth century. It does not address, for example, queer theory, but it gives the reader a basis from where they could read a piece of criticism that utilizes queer theory and easily understand its methods.I read this book while a junior at University and wish I would have read it sooner. I now feel like I can approach works by thinkers such as Barthes, Bakhtin, or Lacan without hesitation. This should be read by all English majors, and sooner rather than later. Theory gives us the tools to talk about and analyze texts in order to fully investigate their cultural implications, and this book is a vital tool in beginning to understand what theory is.
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LibraryThing member RKC-Drama
A quarter of a century on from its original publication, Literary Theory: An Introduction still conjures the subversion, excitement and exoticism that characterized theory through the 1960s and 70s, when it posed an unprecedented challenge to the literary establishment. Eagleton has added a new
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preface to this anniversary edition to address more recent developments in literary studies, including what he describes as “the growth of a kind of anti–theory”, and the idea that literary theory has been institutionalized. Insightful and enlightening, Literary Theory: An Introduction remains the essential guide to the field. Show Less
LibraryThing member xinyi
My guide book to the world of critical theories when i was 20! I read it at least dozens, if not hundreds of times, and surprisingly it was an exciting read.
LibraryThing member blaisec
10 yrs after getting an MA in English Literature, I finally read this book. I wish I had read it at least 15 years ago. Eagleton does a fantastic job to make theory understandable and interesting. I recommend to anyone interested in Lit Crit, this is the first book to read.
LibraryThing member vicarofdibley
essential reading for anyone into english lit crit
LibraryThing member Philip_Lee
Just as you don't have to be a Marxist to appreciate how insightful Marxist economists can be... in the same way, Terry Eagleton manages to cut through centuries of assumptions in literary criticism to reveal some startling home truths about the role books play in society. Don't be a smarmy Martin
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Amis type and ignore what this guy has to say. Show Less
LibraryThing member stillatim
This book seems to serve three functions. First, it's a reasonable introduction to twentieth century literary theory, not including new historicism. Eagleton doesn't seem to have bothered to read much of the new criticism or the poetry associated with it (for instance, he says The Waste Land
Second, it's an exercise in 'Marxism' of the most idiotic kind, which believes that anyone who holds an ideal (e.g., a harmonious society) and reads literature is just "submitting to the political status quo." For someone so keen on bringing politics into things, it's odd that Eagleton spends so little time thinking about the ways that reading literature as an image of harmony and so on might best be considered expressions of *yearning for* rather than *belief in* a harmonious society.
Third, it's a shining example of what literary writing really should be like: polemical, cut and thrust, no nonsense attacks on one hand; rigid statements of faith and belief on the other. You'll know what Mr Eagleton stood for in the '80s once you've read about three pages of this. We're taught today not to say anything that anyone might disagree with- not only is that no fun, it's no way to advance any discussion. This book is seriously, seriously flawed, but I'd much rather re-read it than the essays collected in Cambridge's 'History of Literary Criticism' any day.
Finally, I wonder how Terry feels about his constant attacks on religion in this book. Some might say he was just trying to fit into the radical, epater '80s, no?
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"intimates that fertility cults hold the clue to the salvation of the West"), and reads a bit too much English class structure into American life. But he's quite good on reception theory, structuralism and post-structuralism (although he's far too kind to Derrida, and far, far too kind to Kristeva). Second, it's an exercise in 'Marxism' of the most idiotic kind, which believes that anyone who holds an ideal (e.g., a harmonious society) and reads literature is just "submitting to the political status quo." For someone so keen on bringing politics into things, it's odd that Eagleton spends so little time thinking about the ways that reading literature as an image of harmony and so on might best be considered expressions of *yearning for* rather than *belief in* a harmonious society.
Third, it's a shining example of what literary writing really should be like: polemical, cut and thrust, no nonsense attacks on one hand; rigid statements of faith and belief on the other. You'll know what Mr Eagleton stood for in the '80s once you've read about three pages of this. We're taught today not to say anything that anyone might disagree with- not only is that no fun, it's no way to advance any discussion. This book is seriously, seriously flawed, but I'd much rather re-read it than the essays collected in Cambridge's 'History of Literary Criticism' any day.
Finally, I wonder how Terry feels about his constant attacks on religion in this book. Some might say he was just trying to fit into the radical, epater '80s, no?
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Original publication date
1983