James Smith 
Terry Eagleton 

Terry Eagleton is one of the most influential contemporary literary
theorists and critics. His diverse body of work has been crucial to
developments in cultural theory and literary critical practice in
modern times, and for a generation of humanities students his
writing has been a source of both provocation and enjoyment.

This book undertakes a lucid and detailed analysis of Eagleton’s
oeuvre. It gives close attention to the full range of Eagleton’s
major publications, examining their arguments and implications, as
well as how they have intervened in wider debates in cultural
theory. It also investigates his less familiar works, such as his
early writing on the Catholic left, as well as other as yet
unpublished material, showing how these works can be understood
alongside the more prominent areas of his thought.

Through this, this book offers a cohesive overview of Eagleton’s
career to date, tracing the development of his theoretical
positions, and an assessment of Eagleton’s wider contributions to
fields such as Marxist literary criticism and cultural theory. It
will be essential reading for students of literary criticism,
cultural theory, and intellectual history.

Table of Content

List of abbreviations viii

Introduction 1

1 Eagleton and the Catholic Left 9

2 From Williams to Althusser: Eagleton’s Early Literary
Criticism 32

3 The Critic as Azdak: Eagleton in the 1980s 59

4 The Ideology of the Postmodern 93

5 Nationalism, Socialism, and Ireland 117

6 The Full Circle? 140

Notes 168

Index 183

About the author

James Smith is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland.