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The text frames literary theory as a form of metadiscourse, adopting a critical stance toward other methods and questioning what counts as meaning, canonicity, and evaluation in literature. It discusses how theory has shifted from a subversive, unfamiliar force to something institutionalized, while arguing that its best work poses foundational questions rather than merely adding new study techniques.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literary-theory-an-introduction/320458/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/literary-theory-an-introduction/320458.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Valentina","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",13,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What is the main purpose of literary theory in this book?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"Literary theory is presented as metadiscourse: it critically questions the nature and function of literature and the standards by which literary value is evaluated, not just how to interpret texts.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How does the author describe the historical change in the role of theory in academia?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"The author notes that theory no longer holds the commanding, newly exciting position it once did; instead, it has spread through academic institutions and has been met with an emerging “anti-theory” stance.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"Why does the author argue that placing a theory course alongside other Great Books–style courses can be misleading?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Because theory is meant to challenge underlying concepts—such as what it means to mean and how canonicity is determined—rather than simply function as one more method among others.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},320458,1790699627,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146},13056703020460,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/be000253dac470eee5d?_k=1778207105932848923","ANN I VERS A RY E DI T I ON  \nTERRY EAGLETON  \nLITERARYTHEORY  \nAN INTRODUCTION  \nLiterary Theory  \nThis page intentionally left blank  \nLiterary TheoryAn Introduction  \nTerry Eagleton  \nWith a Nem Preface  \nANNIVERSARY EDITION  \nUniversity of Minnesota PressMinneapolis  \nForCharles SwannandRaymond Williams  \nCopyright Terry Eagleton 1983,1996,2008  \nFirst published in this edition in Great Britain byBlackwell Publishers Ltd.  \nFirst published in this edition in the United States in 2008 bythe University of Minnesota Press  \nAll rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,withoutthe prior written permission of the publisher.  \nPublished in the United States by the University of Minnesota Press111 Third Avenue South,Suite 290Minneapolis,MN 55401-2520http://www.upress.umn.edu  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data  \nEagleton,Terry,1943-  \nLiterary theory:an introduction/Terry Eagleton.—Anniversary ed.  \np.   cm.  \nWith a new preface.  \nIncludes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-8166-5447-5(pb:alk.paper)  \n1.Criticism—History—20th century.2.Literature—History and criticism—Theory,etc.I.Title.PN94.E22008b801'.95—dc22  \n2008006964  \nPrinted in the United States of America on acid-free paper  \nThe University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.  \n1514131211100908  \n10987654321  \nContents  \nPreface to the Anniversary Edition  \nPreface  \nIntroduction:What is Literature?  \n1.The Rise of English  \n2.Phenomenology,Hermeneutics,Reception Theory  \n3.Structuralism and Semiotics  \n4.Post-Structuralism  \n5.Psychoanalysis  \nConclusion:Political Criticism  \nAfterword  \nNotes  \nBibliography  \nIndex  \nvlxi1  \n15  \n47  \n79  \n110  \n131  \n169  \n190  \n209  \n217  \n224  \nThis page intentionally left blank  \n# Preface to theAnniversary Edition\n\nThis book is now a quarter of a century old,but if it seems somewhat longerin the tooth than that it is perhaps because so much has happened since itfirst appeared.One such development is that literary theory no longer oc-cupies the commanding place that it seemed to have twenty-five years ago.When this book was first written,theory,like the latest Jean-Luc Godardmovie,was new,foreign,subversive,enigmatic,and exciting.Some studentsstill rightly find it all these things,but,just as the shock of modernist artwas eventually absorbed until,as Fredric Jameson once remarked,Joyce'sUlysses came to seem really quite a conventional sort of story,so theoryis no longer the outlandish affair that it once was.Indeed,as I note in theAfterword to this book,we have witnessed in recent times the growth of akind of anti-theory—though one that is itself of theoretical interest.In this,it differs from the usual philistine objections to theory,which for the mostpart reflect more of an animus than an argument.  \nHas theory,then,become “institutionalized”?The question cannot beanswered properly if the word “institutionalized”(a term that carries sinis-ter connotations of syringes and straitjackets)is taken in a purely pejorativesense.That theory is now widely taught in academic institutions is to becommended,not condemned as some sort of squalid capitulation.Thingshave changed for the better since I taught Marxist theory every week atOxford in the early 1970s in an informal session which was not even adver-tised on the university lecture list,which was widely disapproved of by mycolleagues,and which operated less like an orthodox seminar than a kind ofrefuge for ideologically battered students.Most students of literature can  \nnow expect a theory course or two to be on offer,a fact that one naturallywelcomes.  \nYet perhaps this is a kind of capitulation,or at least a troubling compro-mise,since theory was never intended simply to take its place alongside GreatBooks courses as yet another product to attract the punters in the intellec-tual m","cbCaibfwrTTbaCC2","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibfwrTTbaCC2","pdf",14233906,248,"English","# Preface to the Anniversary Edition\n# Preface\n# Introduction: What is Literature?\n# The Rise of English\n# Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Reception Theory\n# Structuralism and Semiotics\n# Post-Structuralism\n# Psychoanalysis\n# Conclusion: Political Criticism\n# Afterword\n# Notes\n# Bibliography\n# Index","[{\"question\":\"What is the main purpose of literary theory in this book?\",\"answer\":\"Literary theory is presented as metadiscourse: it critically questions the nature and function of literature and the standards by which literary value is evaluated, not just how to interpret texts.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the author describe the historical change in the role of theory in academia?\",\"answer\":\"The author notes that theory no longer holds the commanding, newly exciting position it once did; instead, it has spread through academic institutions and has been met with an emerging “anti-theory” stance.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the author argue that placing a theory course alongside other Great Books–style courses can be misleading?\",\"answer\":\"Because theory is meant to challenge underlying concepts—such as what it means to mean and how canonicity is determined—rather than simply function as one more method among others.\"}]","Literary Theory - An Introduction | PDF",1789949978,382]