The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction

The phrase "the meaning of life" for many seems a quaint notion fit for satirical mauling by Monty Python or Douglas Adams. But in this spirited Very Short Introduction, famed critic Terry Eagleton takes a serious if often amusing look at the question and offers his own surprising answer.

Eagleton first examines how centuries of thinkers and writers—from Marx and Schopenhauer to Shakespeare, Sartre, and Beckett—have responded to the ultimate question of meaning. He suggests, however, that it...