Terry Eagleton on the Event of Literature (part 1)

Here the eminent philosopher, Marxist and literary critic Terry Eagleton discusses the return of literary criticism, and his witty and lucid new book 'The Event of Literature'.

In 'The Event of Literature' Terry turns his attention to the questions we should ask about literature, but rarely do. What is literature? Can we even speak of "literature" at all? What do different literary theories tell us about what texts mean and do? In throwing new light on these and other questions he has raised in previous best-sellers, Eagleton offers a new theory of what we mean by literature. He also shows what it is that a great many different literary theories have in common.