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The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
The phrase "the meaning of life" for many seems a quaint notion fit for satirical mauling by Monty Python or Douglas Adams. But in this spirited Very Short Introduction, famed critic Terry Eagleton takes a serious if often amusing look at the question and offers his own surprising answer. Eagleton first examines how centuries of thinkers and writers--from Marx and Schopenhauer to Shakespeare, Sartre, and Beckett--have responded to the ultimate question of meaning. He suggests, however, that it is only in modern times that the question has become problematic. But instead of tackling it head-on, many of us cope with the feelings of meaninglessness in our lives by filling them with everything from football to sex, Kabbala, Scientology, "New Age softheadedness," or fundamentalism. On the other hand, Eagleton notes, many educated people believe that life is an evolutionary accident that has no intrinsic meaning. If our lives have meaning, it is something with which we manage to invest them, not something with which they come ready made. Eagleton probes this view of meaning as a kind of private enterprise, and concludes that it fails to holds up. He argues instead that the meaning of life is not a solution to a problem, but a matter of living in a certain way. It is not metaphysical but ethical. It is not something separate from life, but what makes it worth living--that is, a certain quality, depth, abundance and intensity of life. Here then is a brilliant discussion of the problem of meaning by a leading thinker, who writes with a light and often irreverent touch, but with a very serious end in mind..
Price: $6.16
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How to Read a Poem
Lucid, entertaining and full of insight, How To Read A Poem is designed to banish the intimidation that too often attends the subject of poetry, and in doing so to bring it into the personal possession of the students and the general reader.
- Offers a detailed examination of poetic form and its relation to content.
- Takes a wide range of poems from the Renaissance to the present day and submits them to brilliantly illuminating closes analysis.
- Discusses the work of major poets, including John Milton, Alexander Pope, John Keats, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, W.B. Yeats, Robert Frost, W.H.Auden, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, and many more.
- Includes a helpful glossary of poetic terms.
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Price: $11.60
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Literary Theory: An Introduction
“This concise and lucid volume offers a satisfying survey of all the major theories, from structuralism in the 1960s to deconstruction today, that have made academic criticism both intriguing and off-putting to the outsider.” —New York Times Book Review “Literary Theory has the kind of racy readability that one associates more often with English critics who have set their faces resolutely against theory. It’s not just a brilliant polemical essay; it’s also a remarkable feat of condensation, explication, and synthesis.” —Sunday Times (London) “A concise guide to the most interesting and mystifying trends in the study of literature over the last fifty years.” —The Nation This classic work covers all of the major movements in literary studies in this century. Noted for its clear, engaging style and unpretentious treatment, Literary Theory has become the introduction of choice for anyone interested in learning about the world of contemporary literary thought. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of Literary Theory’s debut, Terry Eagleton reflects on the state of theory in academia today, the growth of antitheory (itself an interesting theoretical subject), its common-if problematic-place among survey coursework, and theory’s continued relevance to scholarly pursuits. In this contemporary, retrospective moment, as scholars critically analyze the incredibly broad impact of the theoretical movement, Literary Theory remains an essential initiation to the intellectually stimulating world of theoretical analysis. Terry Eagleton is John Edward Taylor professor of English literature at the University of Manchester. His numerous books include The Meaning of Life, How to Read a Poem, and After Theory. .
Price: $16.65
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After Theory
As heralded everywhere from NPR to the pages of the New York Times Magazine, a new era is underway in our colleges and universities: after a lengthy tenure, the dominance of postmodern theory has come to an end. In this timely and topical book, the legendary Terry Eagleton ("one of [our] best-known public intellectuals."- Boston Globe) traces the rise and fall of these ideas from the 1960s through the 1990s, candidly assessing the resultant gains and losses. What's needed now, After Theory argues, is a return to the big questions and grand narratives. Today's global politics demand we pay attention to a range of topics that have gone ignored by the academy and public alike, from fundamentalism to objectivity, religion to ethics. Fresh, provocative, and consistently engaging, Eagleton's latest salvo will challenge everyone looking to better grasp the state of the world. .
Price: $6.63
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Ideology: An Introduction, New Edition
In the modern world, ideology has never before been so much in evidence as a fact and so little understood as a concept In a book designed both for newcomers to the topic and for those already familiar with the debates, Terry Eagleton unravels the many different meanings of ideology, and charts the history of the concept from the Enlightenment to postmodernism. As well as clarifying a confused topic, this new edition of a now classic work is fully updated in the light of current theoretical debates..
Price: $13.70
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The Ideology of the Aesthetic
The Ideology of the Aesthetic presents a history and critique of the concept of the aesthetic throughout modern Western thought. As such, this is a critical survey of modern Western philosophy, focusing in particular on the complex relations between aesthetics, ethics and politics. Eagleton provides a brilliant and challenging introduction to these concerns, as characterized in the work of Kant, Schiller, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Lukacs, Adorno, Habermas, and others. Wide in span, as well as morally and politically committed, this is Terry Eagleton's major work to date. It forms both an original enquiry and an exemplary introduction..
Price: $20.00
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Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic
Terry Eagleton's Tragedy provides a major critical and analytical account of the concept of 'tragedy' from its origins in the Ancient world right down to the twenty-first century
- A major new intellectual endeavour from one of the world's finest, and most controversial, cultural theorists.
- Provides an analytical account of the concept of 'tragedy' from its origins in the ancient world to the present day.
- Explores the idea of the 'tragic' across all genres of writing, as well as in philosophy, politics, religion and psychology, and throughout western culture.
- Considers the psychological, religious and socio-political implications and consequences of our fascination with the tragic.
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Price: $20.86
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Money: A History
A colorful history of coins and currency from their very beginnings Money tells the story of coins and paper money from ancient to modern times. The book is an exciting collaboration by curators at the British Museum, home to one of the world's finest numismatic collections. Profusely illustrated with 545 color and archival images, Money traces the use of monetary exchange from a primitive barter system to the online, cashless systems operating today. Money examines its subject with authority and imagination, covering its history through the ages and across the world: - Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt
- The Roman world
- Medieval Europe
- Islamic lands
- India and Southeast Asia
- China and the Far East
- Africa and Oceania
- The early modern period and the modern period.
Including modern developments, such as the introduction of the Euro and e-money, Money is an up-to-date, lively and thought provoking introduction to the subject. It will be of interest to history buffs, economists, bankers and general readers. The beautiful photographs are a fine resource for collectors. .
Price: $10.65
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