The Function Of Criticism: From The Spectator To Post-Structuralism
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What is the purpose of criticism, and has it ever truly fulfilled that purpose? In The Function of Criticism, Terry Eagleton conducts a sweeping historical autopsy of literary criticism as a social institution, tracing its origins from the coffeehouses and periodicals of early eighteenth-century England — epitomised by The Spectator — through to the fragmented, self-referential world of Post-Structuralism. With characteristic precision and polemical vigour, Eagleton argues that criticism was born as a genuinely public, democratic discourse, only to retreat into the ivory towers of academic specialism, severed from any meaningful political or social role. Eagleton's signature style — erudite yet combative, richly allusive yet rigorously analytical — transforms what might seem a narrow academic inquiry into a urgent cultural manifesto. He indicts the modern critical establishment for its loss of public purpose and issues a challenge to reclaim criticism as a form of engaged, collective intellectual practice. The Function of Criticism stands as a landmark text in cultural and literary theory, essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered whether the act of writing about literature can — or should — matter beyond the seminar room.
Author: Terry Eagleton
Format: Paperback
Published: 1984, Verso
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What is the purpose of criticism, and has it ever truly fulfilled that purpose? In The Function of Criticism, Terry Eagleton conducts a sweeping historical autopsy of literary criticism as a social institution, tracing its origins from the coffeehouses and periodicals of early eighteenth-century England — epitomised by The Spectator — through to the fragmented, self-referential world of Post-Structuralism. With characteristic precision and polemical vigour, Eagleton argues that criticism was born as a genuinely public, democratic discourse, only to retreat into the ivory towers of academic specialism, severed from any meaningful political or social role. Eagleton's signature style — erudite yet combative, richly allusive yet rigorously analytical — transforms what might seem a narrow academic inquiry into a urgent cultural manifesto. He indicts the modern critical establishment for its loss of public purpose and issues a challenge to reclaim criticism as a form of engaged, collective intellectual practice. The Function of Criticism stands as a landmark text in cultural and literary theory, essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered whether the act of writing about literature can — or should — matter beyond the seminar room.