Product Description

First published in 1983, "Literary Theory: An Introduction" is probably the best-selling work of literary criticism in the world today. It propelled its author to a position of such influence and controversy within the British academy that even Prince Charles once described him as 'that dreadful Terry Eagleton'. 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. Contemporary readers seeking to understand what literature is and what it is for will be inspired and entertained by Eagleton's deft synopses of the major movements in literary studies in the twentieth century.Eagleton has added a new 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55068 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Review
Praise for the First Edition of Literary Theory "Literary Theory has the kind of racy readability that one associates more often with English critics who have set their faces resolutely against theory ... It's not just a brilliant polemical essay, it's also a remarkable feat of condensation, explication, and synthesis ... Stimulating and entertaining." Sunday Times "This concise and lucid volume offers a satisfying survey of all the major theories, from structuralism in the 1960s to deconstruction today, that have made academic criticism both intriguing and off-putting to the outsider." New York Times Book Review "A polemical, amusing and very informative introduction ... indispensable."Jonathan Culler "The best handbook to those arcane ics and isms, both for academy members and for any civilians who, having heard the distant roar of professorial cannons, might wonder what the skirmishing is about." Voice Literary Supplement

From the Publisher
Updated to include recent intellectual trends.
"This concise and lucid volume offers a satisfying survey of all the major theories, from structuralism in the 1960s to deconstruction today, that have made academic criticism both intriguing and off-putting to the outsider." New York Times Book Review

"The best handbook to those arcane ics and isms, both for academy members and for any civilians who, having heard the distant roar of professorial cannons, might wonder what the skirmishing's about." Voice Literary Supplement

"Literary Theory has the kind of racy readibility that one associates more often with English critics who have set their faces resolutely against theory. . . . It's not just a brilliant polemical essay, it's also a remarkable feat of condensation, explication, and synthesis. I haven't read anything in the field of literary theory that was at the same time so stimulating and so entertaining since the Polemical Introduction to Northrup Frye's Anatomy of Criticism." London Sunday Times

"A brilliant, agile performance: urgent and racy, witty and combative, lucid and compelling." New Statesman (UK)

"A concise guide to the most interesting and mystifying trends in the study of literature over the last fifty years." The Nation

From the Author
The author is Thomas Warton Professor of English at the University of Oxford. He has co-edited with Drew Milne Marxist Literary Theory: A Reader (Blackwell Publishers, 1996). His numerous other books include Heathcliff and the Great Hunger (1995), The Ideology of the Aesthetic (Blackwell Publishers, 1990), William Shakespeare (1986), Walter Benjamin (1981), Criticism and Ideology (1976), and Marxism and Literary Criticism (1976).

Customer Reviews

The marxist view on a simple explanation
Usually, it is hard to find books about literary theory that give an easy point of view to nonacademic readers. Eagleton achieves a simple yet complete explanation of the main literary theories of 20th. century. Even though he sustains a MArxist point of view he is able to explain and recognize the most important achievements of each current. I think the best of his ideas is that we should take a position when we talk about literature. Excellent book for beginners

Accessible
Mainly written for students of English Language and Literry theory; this is a surprisingly accessible text, and Eagleton's style is gentle and non-threatening.

first-rate
when i was at oxford i went to eagleton's lectures. he was as charming in person as he is in print. smooth and jargon-free--crucial qualities for a writer of an introductory text like this one, which is still the best of its kind. this said, it should be pointed out that eagleton, like most literary theorists, has a rather casual attitude towards other people's theories. that is, he likes to throw ideas around and play with them, which is fine if he actually understands the really difficult thinkers like kant or wittgenstein. but he doesn't, and to a professional what he says about these thinkers often seems a little comic.