Anonymous
Posted September 12, 2000
Nothing Eagleton writes in this book is untrue. He offers a caveat to would-be 'postmodern' enthusiasts: Don't be seduced by the rhetoric of 'incommensurable narratives', 'alterity', or whatever. But this book should not be read as an argument against postmodern theory as such. Eagleton suggests this himself--the book treats complex issues at such a high level of generality that no theorist who usually falls under the postmodern banner would disagree with anything he says. I think the value of this book lies in Eagleton's implicit argument that one should practice a kind of intellectual integrity that is genuinely thorough and critical, exactly what store brands of postmodernism discourage. I come away from the book with a sense of responsibility to avoid being suckered into the mystifying wastelands of alterity.
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More About This Textbook
Overview
In this brilliant critique, Terry Eagleton explores the origins and emergence of postmodernism, revealing its ambivalences and contradictions. Above all he speaks to a particular kind of student, or consumer, of popular "brands" of postmodern thought.
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"Eagleton shows his firm grasp of political tactics and knowledge of history. It is exceptional" Steven Donovan
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Meet the Author
Terry Eagleton is Professor of Cultural Theory and John Rylands Fellow at the University of Manchester. The Second Edition of his classic Literary Theory: An Introduction appeared in 1996 as did Marxist Literary Theory: A Reader, co-edited with Drew Milne. His numerous other books include Heathcliffe and the Great Hunger (1995), The Ideology of the Aesthetic (1990), William Shakespeare (1986), Walter Benjamin (1976), Criticism and Ideology (1976), and Marxism and Literary Criticism (1976).
Table of Contents
Preface.
1. Beginnings.
2. Ambivalences.
3. Histories.
4. Subjects.
5. Fallacies.
6. Contradictions.
Notes.
Index.