Terry Eagleton

This collection of readings on the concept of ideology is brought together by the Marxist critic, Terry Eagleton. His introduction traces the historical evolution of ideology and examines in a more theoretical style the various meanings of the word and their significance. The readings begin with the first English translations of some of the writing of the French founder of the concept in the eighteenth century. They then move from the enlightenment to Hegel and Marxism, with particular emphasis on Marx and Engels themselves. They also look at other eighteenth-century traditions of thought such as Nietzche and Freud. All the readings are theoretical rather than examples of `ideology at work' and will be of interest to undergraduate students of cultural, political and historical studies concerned with ideology, as well as students of English literature.

The three essays constituting this volume were originally published as individual pamphlets by the Field Day Theatre Company, in Derry, Northern Ireland. Each deals with the question of nationalism and the role of cultural production as a force in understanding and analyzing the aftermath of colonization. The authors’ diverse perspectives are demonstrated by the essays’ respective titles: Eagleton, Nationalism: Irony and Commitment; Jameson, Modernism and Imperialism; and Said, Yeats and Decolonization. The essays have implication beyond their immediate topics, bearing upon questions of feminism, decolonization, and modernism to illuminate problems that belong to other groups and regions.

Terry Eagleton's work has had a powerful influence in debates about the politics of literature and culture. This book reflects the breadth of his interests. It offers a view of his career to date, raising a number of central issues in literature, culture and politics.

`...a valuable book for anyone wanting to move beyond critical pieties to an understanding of the relation between the Brontes' work and their society. Dr Eagleton asks questions which ought be asked.' Juliet Dusinberre, Notes and Queries `...this is a book of real stature, of cogent and steely argument and analysis....' Adrian Poole, Cambridge Review. This widely acclaimed Marxist study of the Brontes is now available in paperback. In this second edition a new introduction has been added.

In 1916, in a remote cottage on the west coast of Ireland, an unlikely collection of fugitives gathers. Ludwig Wittgenstein has run away from Cambridge and English insularity. His traveling companion, Nikolai Bakhtin (brother of the Marxist aesthetician), has been through the gamut of revolutionary sects and is now devoting himself to gluttony. Into their retreat stumble James Connolly, now on the run from the British government, and Leopold Bloom, fleeing Ulysses and his broken marriage. Being men of ideas, they begin to talk. And then, being men of principles, they begin to argue ...

These essays (and a ballad) have their origins in Terry Eagleton's continuing engagement with the possibilities of a literary criticism that is both materialist and open to diverse currents of thought in the human sciences. Eagleton's combative intelligence here explores the encounter between Marxism and contemporary European and American literary theory. Included are a survey of the Althusserian contribution to literary analysis; thoughts on the fraught relations between Marxism and poststructuralism; and a brilliant evocation of the affinities and tensions between Wittgenstein, Derrida and Bakhtin. Intellectual figures in this wide-ranging topography include Jacques Derrida; the radical critic Fredric Jameson; the apostle of deconstruction, Paul de Man; the liberal humanist John Bayley; Bertoit Brecht; William Empson and Pierre Machersy. The volume also includes Eagleton's brilliant reading of Conrad's The Secret Agent. Against the Grain is an excellent introduction to the range of Terry Eagleton's thought and his considerable body of work. It is also a useful primer for all readers interested in the vitality of literary theory today.

Marxist literary criticism is becoming increasingly important in Europe as a whole, and interest in the subject is rapidly growing in this country. In this book, Dr. Eagleton analyses the major issues that the subject presents, discussing the writing of Marx and Engels themselves and the work of such critics as Plekhanov, Trotsky, Lenin, Lukacs, Goldmann, Caudwell, Benjamin and Brecht. They are seen from four viewpoints central to Marxist thought: the relation of literature to history, the problem of 'form' and 'content' in literature, the question of literature and political commitment, and the importance of production and technology in art. Dr. Eagleton's exploration of these critical stances throws useful light on the connection between the Marxist approach and structuralism. The author stresses, however, that Marxist criticism cannot be seen simply in academic terms. In his preface he rejects the illusion of 'neutrality' in such a field, and writes: 'Marxist criticism is part of a larger body of theoretical analysis which aims to understand ideologies - the ideas, values and feelings by which men experience their societies at various times. And certain of those ideas, values and feelings are available to us only in literature. To understand ideologies is to understand both the past and the present more deeply, and such understanding contributes to our liberation.' Dr. Eagleton shows the part that Marxist criticism has to play in defining the crucial link between literature and historical conditions, and in so doing has produced a book that is both constructive and committed.