A Study On Terry Eagleton’s Literary Theory Of New Century

Since After Theory’s publishing of the new century, Terry Eagleton now keeps a watchful eye on cultural theory, now post-modernism, now theology, on evil, now terrorism...sometimes on English novels, on poem theory, or memoir or books review... when his publishing speed reaches one or two books per year, we have to take it for granted that his theory turn is continue. But any change or turn happened on this strong-willed Marxism scholar?With Aristotle’s thought and his concepts, we find that Terry Eagleton’s attentions really focus on some serious, grand and metaphysical topics.Therefore Eagleton has not changed, for what he talked still is human being and our being on philosophy and ethics, and about how we could live more happier and realize our value each one; but Eagleton has changed, for that he’s been trying to borrow some express methods and discourse systems to convey his ultimate concerning. If talking about the meaning of live is a "signifier", then the ultimate "signified" of Eagleton has not changed at all, he hopes everyone could understand his attitudes, only that too radical means of expression makes people’s attention turned to the radical expression means, and then they ignore what he want to present. With the ages go, Eagleton restrains himself, and does exactly the opposite, and gives out his voice by some popular, secular and humors even emotional words.Since The Ideology of the Aesthetic, Eagleton has mentioned Aristotle and his virtue ethics straightforward and frequently, we could begin with this question, from this entry point, get into Eagleton’s thought system. This could help us grasp his concepts of "exchanged value", " self-realization", "non-alienated labour", but also understand his literature, aesthetic and ethical ideas.For domestic research, the mis-reading of "After Theory" has lead some neglecting of Aristotle’s influence to Eagleton. In the latter 4 chapters, Eagleton has integrated his political position, practice orientation and theoretical reflection, and he has behave some tendency from politics to ethics. In the Event of Literature of 2012, Eagleton stand on Aristotle’s virtue ethics and proposed that there is a practical relation based on action between real word and the literature, and literature has its ontology value, and it has participated in the construction of the world on ethics, and the moral job and its ethics value are in its resistance to actual autocratic force.Based on this research, we discuss following questions.Firstly, Eagleton’s viewpoint of mimesis and fiction. By Mimesis of Aristotle, the mimesis object is not the nature of society, even human characters, but the actions. But the actions are specific, and irreducible, so mimesis could only a representation. Therefore, mimesis has its ethical value, because it could represent that incognitable things, and express universal meaning, being an aesthetic category, mimesis has its epistemological value. Mimesis is an art skill and could create something not existed before, so mimesis equals to the modern fiction; and if we take audiences as some contemplation, and this fiction also has its ethical meaning, for it has realistic effect, and it constitute the contemplated object for human, therefore, fiction now is an ontology existence, and it is not the copy or reproductions from reality.Secondly, Eagleton’s viewpoint of aesthetics and morality. Tragic is not the pure art of modernism, the pure art with some slogan for it still is a moral statement, not a factual one. It’s not the product of pure reason. From Kant, artwork necessarily claims others’approval, so this is one reason that aesthetics is closely connected with morality. In the aesthetical history, from Aristotle’s Catharsis to 18 century’s empiricism and its empathy, to Marxism’s non-alienated labour, and all the exposition are based on the relation between aesthetic and moral ideas, freedom and necessity. Kant’s ontology embodies some signification of form, for moral law is exist for itself, and neglecting individual feeling and welfare, Eagleton believes that this idea brought some negative influences for modern society.Thirdly, Eagleton’s viewpoint of essence and form. For recognition of something, the abstraction of universalism is necessary, but according to Aristotle, the essence of things is not out of themselves, but the essence is to finish the thing’s function and realize its purpose, and the function and the purpose are not outside of things, just the eidos of Plato, and this is Aritotle’s teleology, essentialism and his theory of practice, which is different from modern ideas. The form is not a container, but a form-endowing, for facing complicated and versatile world, for seize the fate, know the outside, the human-being have to give some specific meaning to some things (material) which had not some given sense before. Giving things specific forms is to give them essences. By Aristotle’s idea, the form is a skill, knowledge, and praxis. And the skill claims a generation out of nothing and the knowledge claims some universalism, and the praxis claims the action itself has their worth. The form of literature is belongs to this category, it is a creature, for it revealing the freedom of human; and it offers us some possibilities of perceiving the world and reflecting ourselves; and it is exist for itself and ultimately becomes the co-existence of human, therefore literature is human’s logos, and is the method of speech the world.Fourthly, Eagleton’s viewpoint of "theology" and metaphysics. Eagleton argued with atheist that the God exists or not, but also laughed at the theism’s cunning outwits itself, so his "theology" is to break the popular prejudice. For him, God is a symbol, and we should not be defined the circle of signified and signifier, and we should take God as the referent of reality, so being a non-exist existence, God and its ultimate aim is human-being. Hence, Eagleton’s "theology" is similar to Aristotle’s one, for Aristotle, the God is thought itself, so the object of thought is thought itself, and the purpose and means of thought are still thought. In this activity, the thought is a pure form without any material, and it ceaselessly review itself, and re-think the thinking, so this is a never ending circle movement, and it is the ultimate happiness of human. And only in this action, without secular trouble, without material limitation, human could communicate with the God.In brief, from the standpoint of Aristotle’s poetic, ethical, political, metaphysical ideas, we could review Terry Eagleton’s literary theory and gain many harvests. The mimesis and artistry have influenced Eagleton’s view of fiction; the virtue ethics and praxis stress the purpose and means combined in one, and this stimulate Eagleton’s reflection of Kant’s ontology, and this supports Eagleton’s stress of literature and its practice signification and utopia value; the essence of Aristotle values the individuality of ontology and the universality of epistemology, and this holds up that the idea of literature and its generation, and the value of literary theory; the theology of Aristotle even happens to have the same view of critical re-thinking.Because of this research takes Terry Eagleton’s publication of this new century as mainly references and bibliography, so deficiencies are following:first, except for The Ideology of the Aesthetic, the publication from last 70s, such as Criticism and ideology, Ideology:Introduction, and The Function of Criticism, could not received in-depth discussion; second, we need to explore the topic of philosophy and ethics further, and this have to obtain subsequent perfection.