One of eagleton's cross-disciplinary masterpieces in his later years, a leading figure in contemporary Western cultural criticism. Following "The Theory of Western Literature in the Twentieth Century", "Why Marx Was Right", and "Culture and the Death of God", Eagleton has integrated literary criticism, political philosophy criticism, and theological research.
Delve into the inner fabric of Western civilization and redraw the ideological map of sacrificial ideas.
This book deals with love, death, suffering, tragedy, sacrifice, sin, martyrdom, forgiveness, and so on. Eagleton unfolded his discourse in his interpretation and reading of the passages of the Bible, in his clash with the ideas of Derrida, Benjamin, Lacan, Zizek, Agamben, Adorno, and others. He traces how ancient sacrifices overlapped with the origins of nations and tribes, and most civilizations tended to emerge from barbarism. As times have changed, how sacrifice has changed from ritual slaughter to a moral act. He went on to explore many sub-propositions around the issue of sacrifice, "tragedy", "martyrdom", "gift giving", and "scapegoat", of which Igerton's discussion of the "scapegoat" is particularly noteworthy. Eagleton argues that the "scapegoat" cannot be simply seen as a victim, and that this image actually has a more radical meaning, that is, not succumbing to the intimidation of authority, nor sacrificing itself for others, which is undoubtedly the condition for the birth of a new subject. Such a life existence can be an opportunity for a new political order to be established.
Foreword to On Sacrifice
Text | Eagleton
The chapters in the book are part of a larger research project that involves a series of ideas that can be considered central to my later work: death, tragedy, sacrifice, exploitation, and so on. Some readers may find these concepts too dark, but I would like to add that in this study I am also actively dealing with other issues, such as innovation, transformation, and revolution, and I have not ignored this side, and they are inseparable from those dark sides.
Like some of my other recent writings, the political left has little interest in what it thinks, and to be precise, postmoderns don't take it seriously. Love, death, suffering, sacrifice, sin, martyrdom, forgiveness, and so on, are not fashionable among today's cultural or political theorists. These things are usually only the focus of theologians, and I myself do not have the same disdain for theology as the average left-winger, because at some turning point in my formative journey I accidentally gained some insight into these issues. In any case, I am quite sure that a considerable part of the secular view of the Jewish and Christian context is gross prejudice or extreme ignorance, for whom socialism is merely a question of the Gulag concentration camps, or that feminism is nothing more than the consequence of women throwing their innate humility and decency out of the clouds. Therefore, the more critical purpose of the book is to expose how pathetic and funny these attitudes are, of course, this revelation is largely implicit. When it comes to theology, even the most perceptive secular thinkers risk falling into clichés and ridiculous misunderstandings.
In fact, it is strange that someone like me, who has benefited from the legacy of Marxism, is more interested in theology, just as the Liberals or Social Democrats are interested in Stendhal and Flaubert. Marxism is the theory and practice of historical change, not an insight into some human existence, and therefore it has no intention of offering compelling arguments about such things as death, suffering or forgiveness, tragic collapse, or nihilistic nature. To solve these problems, people are more inclined to turn to Dostoevsky, St. Paul, Shakespeare and Sebald.
I am very grateful to my text editor Charlotte Charlotte Chapman, her work is very efficient and meticulous. At this point, she was joined by my former text editor at Yale, the erudite Jenny Lee. Jenny Roberts is of the same high standard. I would also like to thank Timothy Timothy for his death. Timothy Radcliffe OP, who has studied the book meticulously, has given me many enlightening comments. I would also like to thank Sam Sam Dunnett, who proved himself to be a brilliant research assistant.
Terry Eagleton (1943—)
He is a famous British literary theorist and cultural critic. He has been a long-time professor of English literature at Oxford University and is now a Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University. Since the 1960s, he has published dozens of books in the fields of literary theory, postmodernism, politics, ideology and religion. His representative works include "The Theory of Western Literature in the Twentieth Century", "Aesthetic Ideology", "After theory", "Introduction to the British Modern Novel", "Why Marx was Right" and so on.