Terry Eagleton: A Marxist Literary Theorist and Critic

Terry Eagleton, born into a working-class family in England, established himself as a prominent Marxist literary theorist and critic. His diverse body of work encompasses literary analysis spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as a focus on the Marxist tradition from the 1970s. Through his historical materialist approach, Eagleton firmly aligns himself as a Marxist critic. Compatibility of Critical Trends While rooted in Marxism, Eagleton's writings also embrace other critical trends that align with his perspective. These trends emerge as a reaction to the ideas of New Criticism, which posited that literary texts are autonomous and self-contained. Eagleton, however, considers modern literary theories as somehow compatible with Marxism, recognizing their shared critique of the New Criticism's autonomy claims. Political Nature of Literary Theory Eagleton's work "Literary Theory: An Introduction" delves into various literary approaches, viewing theory as inheren…