He argues that the realization of human capacity can only be possible in a good society and when society is oppressive, the thorough development of an individual is not possible. They are political in terms of their need for the community to survive and of their activities which do not have meaning outside the human community. The second part of After Theory contains ideas derived from Aristotle and Marx that human beings are essentially political. Another defect is that cultural theorists preach transgression which he thinks is a capitalist phenomenon. He sees defects of cultural theory in the inability of cultural theorists to deal with important social issues. He views that cultural theory reflected upon social issues such as gender, sexuality, race, power, and environment.

In his After Theory, he talks of the achievements and defects of the cultural theory. He further says that the goal of literature is to produce better people while taking into consideration the social transformation.Įagleton wrote after theory after the period of High Theory which is a period Foucault, Derrida, and postmodernists. His advice to his readers is that the study of literature should focus on social issues. However, he thinks that theories such as New Criticism, Formalism, Post-Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, and Deconstruction are ahistorical and ideologically suspicious because they rather complied with the interests of the ruling system than challenged them.Įagleton emphasizes that literature be considered one amongst cultural phenomenon. His approach despite being that of Marxist tradition is open to new critical traditions such as structuralism, psychoanalysis, and deconstruction. He views that no literary or artistic work is apolitical since it serves the interests of the ruling class of society. He reflects on theory as essentially political. This compatibility becomes possible because modern literary theories are somehow a reaction against the ideas of New Criticism such as literary texts are autonomous and self-contained.Įagleton’s work Literary Theory: An Introductionis a study of literary approaches. However, he, in his writing, considers other critical trends that become compatible with his Marxism.

The meaning of life by terry eagleton