Product Description

Written by one of the world’s leading literary theorists, this book provides a wide–ranging, accessible and humorous introduction to the English novel from Daniel Defoe to the present day.

• Covers the works of major authors, including Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne, Walter Scott, Jane Austen, the Brontës, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce.
  
• Distils the essentials of the theory of the novel.
  
• Follows the model of Eagleton’s hugely popular Literary Theory: An Introduction (Second Edition, 1996).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223748 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 376 pages

Review
"Eagleton′s presentation of the history of the novel is admirably clear and almost entirely free of the disfiguring jargon so relied upon by theorists and bamboozlers."
The Irish Independentà

"Eagleton, almost alone among academic literary critics of his generation, has never been afraid of asking big questions about big things. In The English Novel: An Introduction he takes aim at a very large target indeed. Being Eagleton (the most articulately and discriminately ideological critic of our time) he does, of course, do much more than merely ′introduce′. He makes sense of the English novel."
John Sutherland, Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature, UCL

From the Back Cover
This book provides a wide–ranging, accessible and humorous introduction to the English novel from Daniel Defoe to the present day.

Following the model of his hugely popular Literary Theory: An Introduction, Terry Eagleton starts by distilling the essentials of the theory of the novel, summarizing what has been written on the genre by a range of prominent theorists. There then follows a series of chapters on major novelists, including Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne, Walter Scott, Jane Austen, the Brontës, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce. Each chapter discusses the major works of the author in question, outlines the relevant historical context, and draws out common themes.The English Novel is an ideal introduction for students of English literature or for general readers.

About the Author
Terry Eagleton is Professor of Cultural Theory and John Rylands Fellow at the University of Manchester. His recent publications include Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic (2003), The Idea of Culture (2000), Scholars and Rebels in Nineteenth–Century Ireland (1999), Literary Theory: An Introduction (Second Edition, 1996) and The Illusions of Postmodernism (1996), all published by Blackwell Publishing.

Customer Reviews

Variable Quality throughout
Eagleton discusses the English novel and beginning with Defoe, Richardson and so on all the usual suspects make their appearance - the Brontes, Dickens, George Eliot, Hardy and so on.

Knowing that Eagleton is described as a Marxist critic, I was on my guard expecting everything to explained by the economic superstructure/infrastructure and so on but it wasn't as bad as that. Eagleton's writing varied in quality throughout the book. There were patches when he seemed so heavy and ponderous that I was tempted to skip some of it (which I didn't) then he would seem to get a good run going for a while when his writing was quite lucid and interesting. He even came close to being humorous and witty part of the way through his chapter on Thomas Hardy.

Altogether not a bad book but not a brilliant one either. I did come away thinking that I had learned a fair amount though.