Terry Eagleton - On Literary Theory and Marxism (55 books)

* Terry Eagleton - On Literary Theory and Marxism (55 books)

TERRY EAGLETON (b. 1943) is one of the most prolific and influential British literary critics, theorists, and public intellectuals of the modern era. His career has been marked by a relentless critique of the ideological underpinnings of literature, moving beyond traditional criticism to explore the broader political, aesthetic, and ethical dimensions of culture. Throughout his extensive body of work, he has brought Marxist perspectives into dialogue with Christianity, feminism, and postmodernism, challenging the mainstream academic establishment.

Eagleton solidified his reputation as a major theorist with works like MARXISM AND LITERARY CRITICISM (1976) and CRITICISM AND IDEOLOGY (1976), in which he argued that literature is not an autonomous aesthetic object but rather a product of ideological forces and material conditions. This perspective was expanded in his groundbreaking LITERARY THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION (1983), arguably his most famous work, which sold over 750,000 copies and became a standard introduction to the field. Its brisk survey of movements from Russian Formalism to psychoanalysis and post-structuralism introduced generations of students to theory—and not infrequently unsettled them with its confident insistence that criticism can never be politically neutral.

His commitment to a rigorous materialist perspective continued in works like THE IDEOLOGY OF THE AESTHETIC (1990), which traced the political dimensions of aesthetic theory itself, showing how ideas of beauty, taste, and artistic value were entangled with debates about citizenship, morality, and the individual. Later books, including THE ILLUSIONS OF POSTMODERNISM (1996) and AFTER THEORY (2003), offered sharp critiques of the cultural skepticism, relativism, and professionalized theory that came to dominate the humanities at the end of the twentieth century. In WHY MARX WAS RIGHT (2011), Eagleton countered common objections to Marxism even as it fell out of academic fashion, demonstrating the continued relevance of Marxist thought in a post-financial-crisis world.

Beyond political theory, Eagleton has written on Irish culture, such as SCHOLARS AND REBELS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY IRELAND (1999) and HEATHCLIFF AND THE GREAT HUNGER (1995). In the 2000s and 2010s, Eagleton broadened his thematic scope still further, turning toward ethics, religion, and fundamental philosophical questions. REASON, FAITH, AND REVOLUTION (2009), for example, engaged with the so-called “New Atheism” and argued that both religion and radical politics share a concern with justice, solidarity, and human flourishing. THE MEANING OF LIFE (2007) and ON EVIL (2010) both explore moral questions from a secular and theological perspective. He has written a memoir, THE GATEKEEPER (2001), and a novel, SAINTS AND SCHOLARS (1987).

For readers new to critical theory, Eagleton offers a compelling gateway; for those already familiar with the field, he remains an incisive interlocutor who challenges easy assumptions. His principal writings collectively map a decades-long effort to keep criticism intellectually alive, socially aware, and engaged with the world beyond the university.


In addition to 200 papers and other contributions (see file list for details), the following books are in ePUB and/or PDF format as indicated:

* Across the Pond: An English View of America (Norton, 2013) – ePUB
* After Theory (Penguin, 2004) – ePUB
* Against the Grain: Selected Essays (Verso, 1986) – PDF
* Crazy John and the Bishop & Other Essays (Notre Dame, 1998) – PDF
* The Crisis of Contemporary Culture (Oxford, 1993) – PDF
* Critical Revolutionaries (Yale, 2022) – ePUB / PDF
* Criticism and Ideology (Verso, 1978) – ePUB / PDF
* Culture (Yale, 2016) – ePUB / PDF
* Culture and the Death of God (Yale, 2014) – ePUB / PDF
* The English Novel: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2005) – ePUB / PDF
* The Event of Literature (Yale, 2012) – ePUB / PDF
* Exiles and Émigrés: Studies in Modern Lit (Schocken, 1970) – PDF
* Figures of Dissent: Critical Essays (Verso, 2003) – PDF
* The Function of Criticism (Verso, 2005) – ePUB / PDF
* Heathcliff and the Great Hunger (Verso, 1995) – PDF
* Holy Terror (Oxford, 2005) – ePUB / PDF
* Hope Without Optimism (Yale, 2015) – ePUB / PDF
* How to Read a Poem (Blackwell, 2007) – PDF
* How to Read Literature (Yale, 2013) – ePUB / PDF
* Humour (Yale, 2019) – ePUB / PDF
* The Idea of Culture (Blackwell, 2000) – ePUB / PDF
* Ideology: An Introduction (Verso, 2024) – ePUB
* The Ideology of the Aesthetic (Blackwell, 1990) – PDF
* The Illusions of Postmodernism (Blackwell, 1996) – ePUB
* Literary Theory: An Introduction [Anniversary Ed.] (Blackwell, 2008) – PDF
* Marx and Freedom (Phoenix, 2011) – ePUB / PDF
* Marxism and Literary Criticism (Routledge, 2002) – ePUB / PDF
* Materialism (Yale, 2016) – ePUB / PDF
* The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2008) – ePUB / PDF
* Modernism: A Literature in Crisis (Yale, 2025) – PDF
* Myths of Power: A Marxist Study of the Brontës (Macmillan, 2005) – PDF
* Nationalism, Colonialism, and Literature (Minnesota, 1990) – ePUB / PDF
* The New Left Church (Helicon, 1966) – PDF
* On Evil (Yale, 2010) – ePUB / PDF
* Radical Sacrifice (Yale, 2018) – ePUB / PDF
* The Rape of Clarissa (Minnesota, 1982) – PDF
* The Real Thing: Reflections on Literary Form (Yale, 2024) – ePUB
* Reason, Faith, and Revolution (Yale, 2009) – ePUB / PDF
* Scholars and Rebels in 19th-Century Ireland (Blackwell, 1999) – PDF
* Shakespeare and Society (Schocken, 1967) – PDF
* The Significance of Theory (Blackwell, 1990) – PDF
* Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic (Blackwell, 2003) – PDF
* The Task of the Critic [with M. Beaumont] (Verso, 2009) – ePUB
* Tragedy (Yale, 2020) – ePUB / PDF
* Trouble with Strangers (Blackwell, 2009) – ePUB / PDF
* The Truth About the Irish (St. Martin's, 1999) – PDF
* Walter Benjamin: or, Towards A Revolutionary Criticism (Verso, 2024) – ePUB
* Why Marx Was Right, 2e (Yale, 2018) – ePUB / PDF
* William Shakespeare (Blackwell, 1986) – PDF

== PLAYS & PROSE FICTION ==

* Saints and Scholars (Futura, 1990) – PDF
* Saint Oscar and Other Plays (Blackwell, 1997) – PDF

== MEMOIR ==

* The Gatekeeper (St. Martin's, 2003) – ePUB

== ANTHOLOGY ==

* The Eagleton Reader [ed. Regan] (Blackwell, 1998) – PDF

== EDITOR ==

* Ideology [ed.] (Routledge, 1994) – ePUB / PDF
* Raymond Williams: Critical Perspectives [ed.] (Northeastern, 1989) – PDF


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