Terry Eagleton

[altnet]

Hello, I have taken an interest in the works of Terry Eagleton at a teacher's urging. I have read Reason, Faith, and Revolution about a month or two ago, and I am currently waiting for my copy of Why Marx Was Right to arrive. I am interested in some feedback on Eagleton's works and his theory in general. Any opinions on him?

[blake 3:17]

I like him. His book on Ideology is fucking brilliant. The last edition is dedicated to a now deceased comrade of mine.

His book on Walter Benjamin is quite good. There are some essays from 70s and 80s of some interest where he was experimenting with Althusserian approaches. It's been a while so shouldn't comment.

[Red Future]

He is one of the foremost experts on Literary criticism the UK which is good as he has managed to mainstream a Marxist analysis continually.

[Kronsteen]

Consistently readable, clear and well researched. Not an original thinker, but a good presenter of other people's ideas - always a rarity on the left.

About a year ago he started flirting with 'religious ways of knowing' (ie catholicism). According to comrades of mine he's always been a not-quite-lapsed catholic. I don't know how true that is.

[blake 3:17]

About a year ago he started flirting with 'religious ways of knowing' (ie catholicism). According to comrades of mine he's always been a not-quite-lapsed catholic. I don't know how true that is.

Eagleton started out as a Catholic socialist before becoming a Marxist. I've been quite impressed by some of his responses to the banal atheism being pushed by Dawkins and Hitchens.

[harum scarum]

I have taught intro to lit classes using his Literary Theory: An Introduction and How To Read a Poem and found them to be clear and effective. Kronsteen is dead-on in saying he's not a great original thinker, but a good presenter of ideas. He's certainly not in the class of someone like Fredric Jameson. A common criticism--one I agree with--is that he has too much flair (at times) for being sensational rather than truly substantive. But he has important things to say. His book After Theory, in spite of its misleading and pandering title, is really a fine analysis of how critical theory can get derailed into triviality when it loses connection with political consciousness.