A bit over-hyped perhaps? - Rated 
'An introduction' is somewhat mileading as a title. This isn't what might be expected of a conventional introduction - i.e. somewhat objective, giving an overview and an impartial summary. Rather it is 'an introduction' to Eagleton's own particular Marxist view of literature. Not, then, perhaps for the complete, naive beginner.
Good information...if I only knew what he was saying.... - Rated
This book is very informative and has good points, but it is so excruciatingly boring that I can barely force myself to pay attention for more than a paragraph at a time. Eagleton's views are strong, and sometimes muddle with the ideas of the people he's trying to describe. Overall, I think it's good but very unclear, or you need to be a top scholar of literature to really understand it right away.
The marxist view on a simple explanation - Rated 
Usually, it is hard to find books about literary theory that give an easy point of view to nonacademic readers. Eagleton achieves a simple yet complete explanation of the main literary theories of 20th. century. Even though he sustains a MArxist point of view he is able to explain and recognize the most important achievements of each current. I think the best of his ideas is that we should take a position when we talk about literature. Excellent book for beginners
first-rate - Rated
when i was at oxford i went to eagleton's lectures. he was as charming in person as he is in print. smooth and jargon-free--crucial qualities for a writer of an introductory text like this one, which is still the best of its kind. this said, it should be pointed out that eagleton, like most literary theorists, has a rather casual attitude towards other people's theories. that is, he likes to throw ideas around and play with them, which is fine if he actually understands the really difficult thinkers like kant or wittgenstein. but he doesn't, and to a professional what he says about these thinkers often seems a little comic.
"The End Of English?" - Rated
"Literary Theory" is a good introduction to a dead field. That field is not merely "literary theory," a field which many have been announcing the death of since the late 70s, but also "Literature" itself, which is currently emitting its death-rattle. One can hear that rattle in Eagleton's book, which spends a portion of its time detailing the growth of English literature as a subject. It might surprise some to know that English as an academic discipline is only a hundred years old or so. That fact is I think a very, very dangerous one; it would not surprise me to hear, maybe sooner than you might think, that English has been thrown out of the university entirely. Certainly, the Sokol Affair has already raised some alarm bells. In any case, "Literary Theory" is a good introduction to the subject for the undergraduate or beginning grad student--but I would warn you people, get into computer science now before it is too late.
|
