Editing Terry Eagleton (section)

{{Short description|English author and academic (born 1943)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox academic
| name               = Terry Eagleton
| honorific_suffix   = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA|size=100%}}
| image              = Terry Eagleton in Manchester 2008.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Eagleton in 2008
| birth_name         = Terence Francis Eagleton
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1943|2|22}}
| birth_place        = [[City of Salford|Salford]], England
| death_date         = <!-- {{death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place        = 
| spouse             = {{ubl | {{marriage|Rosemary Galpin|1966|1976|end=div}} | {{marriage|Willa Murphy|1997}}}}
| children           = 5
| awards             = <!--notable national-level awards only-->
| website            = 
| alma_mater         = {{ubl | [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] | [[Jesus College, Cambridge]]}}
| thesis_title       = 
| thesis_year        = 
| school_tradition   = {{hlist | [[Continental philosophy]] | [[Marxism]]}}
| doctoral_advisor   = 
| academic_advisors  = [[Raymond Williams]]
| influences         = {{flatlist|
* [[Karl Marx]]<ref name="Smith2013">{{cite book |author=James Smith |title=Terry Eagleton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kYD1ZfZ4uAcC&pg=PT13 |year=2013 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-7456-5795-0}}</ref>
* [[F.&nbsp;R. Leavis]]<ref name="Smith2013"/>
* [[Raymond Williams]]<ref name=autogenerated3>{{cite book |author=James Smith |title=Terry Eagleton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kYD1ZfZ4uAcC&pg=PT13 |year=2013 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-7456-5795-0}}</ref>
* [[Louis Althusser]]<ref name="Smith2013"/>
* [[Herbert McCabe]]<ref name="Smith2013"/>
}}
| era                = 
| discipline         = {{hlist | [[Literature]] | [[philosophy]]}}
| sub_discipline     = [[Literary theory]]
| workplaces         = {{ubl | [[Wadham College, Oxford]] | [[Linacre College, Oxford]] | [[St Catherine's College, Oxford]] | [[University of Manchester]] | [[Lancaster University]]}}
| doctoral_students  = {{flatlist|
* [[Ken Hirschkop]]
* [[Sally Ledger]]
}}
| notable_students   = {{ill|Frank Albers|nl}}
| main_interests     = 
| notable_works      = {{ubl | ''Literary Theory'' (1983) | ''The Ideology of the Aesthetic'' (1990) | ''The Illusions of Postmodernism'' (1996)}}
| notable_ideas      = Good/Bad [[utopianism]]<ref>Terry Eagleton (1991). ''Ideology: An Introduction'', p. 131.</ref>
| influenced         = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source-->
| signature          = 
| signature_alt      = 
}}
'''Terence Francis Eagleton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA}}<ref name=autogenerated2/> (born 22 February 1943) is an English [[literary theorist]], [[literary critic|critic]], and [[public intellectual]].<ref name="vallely">{{cite news |last=Vallely |first=Paul |date=13 October 2007 |title=Terry Eagleton: Class warrior |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/terry-eagleton-class-warrior-396770.html |work=[[The Independent]] |quote=...the man who succeeded F R Leavis as Britain's most influential academic critic.}}</ref><ref>John Sitter, Chairman of the English Department at the [[University of Notre Dame]] and Editor of ''The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth Century Poetry'', has describes Eagleton as "someone widely regarded as the most influential contemporary literary critic and theorist in the English-speaking world" {{cite web |url=http://al.nd.edu/about-arts-and-letters/news/terry-eagleton-returns-to-nd-as-distinguished-visitor-in-english-department |title=Terry Eagleton Returns to ND as Distinguished Visitor in English Department // News and Stories // About Arts and Letters // College of Arts and Letters // University of Notre Dame |access-date=23 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831195011/http://al.nd.edu/about-arts-and-letters/news/terry-eagleton-returns-to-nd-as-distinguished-visitor-in-english-department/ |archive-date=31 August 2009 }}</ref><ref>"Eagleton himself has also replaced Leavis as the best known and most influential academic critic in Britain." Duke Maskell,{{Who|date=July 2013}} as cited by Nicholas Wroe [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/feb/02/academicexperts.highereducation].</ref><ref>"Terry Eagleton is arguably the most influential contemporary British literary critic and theorist." James Smith. {{Who|date=July 2013}} Cited in the Introduction to ''Terry Eagleton: A Critical Introduction (Key Contemporary Thinkers)'' Polity Press, 2008.<!-- isbn needed --></ref> He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at [[Lancaster University]].

Eagleton has published over forty books, but remains best known for ''[[Literary Theory: An Introduction]]'' (1983), which has sold over 750,000 copies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/a-theoretical-blow-for-democracy/160508.article |title=A theoretical blow for democracy |date=31 May 2001 |access-date=29 June 2016}}</ref> The work elucidated the emerging [[literary theory]] of the period, as well as arguing that all literary theory is necessarily political. He has also been a prominent critic of [[postmodernism]], publishing works such as ''The Illusions of Postmodernism'' (1996) and ''After Theory'' (2003). He argues that, influenced by postmodernism, cultural theory has wrongly devalued [[Objectivity (philosophy)|objectivity]] and [[ethics]]. His thinking is influenced by [[Marxism]] and [[Christianity]].

Formerly the [[Thomas Warton]] Professor of English Literature at the [[University of Oxford]] (1992–2001) and [[John Edward Taylor|John Edward Taylor Professor of Cultural Theory]] at the [[University of Manchester]] (2001–2008), Eagleton has held visiting appointments at universities around the world including Cornell, Duke, Iowa, Melbourne, Trinity College Dublin, and Yale.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web |url=http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/english/profiles/Terry-Eagleton/ |title=Terry Eagleton - English & Creative Writing - Lancaster University - Lancaster University |first=Lancaster |last=University |access-date=29 June 2016}}</ref>

Eagleton delivered [[Yale University]]'s 2008 [[Terry Lectures]] and the [[University of Edinburgh]]'s 2010 [[Gifford Lectures|Gifford Lecture]] entitled ''The God Debate''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Professor Terry Eagleton |url=http://www.hss.ed.ac.uk/giffordexemp/ProfessorTerryEagleton.htm |work=College of Humanities & Social Science |publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]] |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721213732/http://www.hss.ed.ac.uk/giffordexemp/ProfessorTerryEagleton.htm |archive-date=21 July 2011}}</ref> He gave the 2010 [[Richard Price]] Memorial Lecture at [[Newington Green Unitarian Church]], speaking on "The New Atheism and the War on Terror".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2010/08/29/terry-eagleton-to-speak-at-newington-green |title=Terry Eagleton to speak at Newington Green |publisher=Hackney Citizen |date=29 August 2010 |access-date=30 December 2011}}</ref> In 2009, he published a book which accompanied his lectures on religion, entitled ''Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate''.

In July 2024, Eagleton was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by [[Lancaster University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honorary degrees 2024 |url=https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/honorary-degrees-2024 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Lancaster University |language=en}}</ref>