A Study Of Terry Eagleton’s View Of Form

In view of the symptoms of literary criticism in the “post-theory” era,Eagleton adhered to the position of Marxist literary criticism,reflected on the defects of Russian formalism,Anglo-American New Criticism,and French structuralism,and constructed a critical paradigm of “the politics of form” criticism centered on “form”.Firstly,he redefined the connotation of form,incorporating punctuation,texture,image,and other factors in the category of form,so as to highlight the characteristics and value of form.Secondly,he refuted the traditional organic holism,pointing out that the existence of form and content are “not identical”,and the complex relationship of versu or transcending between form and content should be viewed in an “interactive” way.Thirdly,he clarified the relationship between “form” and ideology.It is believed that “form” is not only the link between “producer” and “consumer”,but also the medium between text and ideology.Finally,he established the critical paradigm of “the politics of form”,which aims at fighting against the commercialized and fast-reading world,restoring human’s “experience” and realizing the redemption of modern people.Eagleton deepened his understanding of “form”,extended the direction of traditional Marxist studies,and opened up a new way for literary criticism in the new century.