'After Theory' by Terry Eagleton

To my mind, the book draws out the absurdities of cultural theory. `After Theory` compares the 1960s origins and 1970s heyday of cultural theory, when 'there was a general excited sense that the present was the place to be....because it seemed so obviously the herald to a new future, a land of boundless possibility', with the present state of the subject, where 'quietly-spoken middle-class students huddle diligently in libraries, at work on sensationalist subjects like vampirism and eye-gouging, cyborgs and porno movies'

In a prefatory note he declares that his new book "argues against what I take to be a current orthodoxy". Theory has gone astray, but not because it has encouraged academic obscurantism and grim reductiveness. It is because it has not been political enough. He talks about "fashioning a world in which the hungry could be fed", but takes it for granted that this is not something that would ever concern those professionally involved in politics or commerce. In our present political climate it is not enough to write about a sexy topic, get a grade, get a degree, and get a job. We have to get away from simplistic self-interest and political disinterest. In the chapter entitled “Morality,” Eagleton makes it clear what morality is. It is “all about the enjoyment and abundance of life”.

He speaks of the shortcomings of "cultural theory". We inhabit "a social order which urgently needs repair" and we are told that "theory must be harnessed to practical political ends". Yet it is not quite clear what he thinks is to be done. I quite agree with the statement that we are lost generation with no cultural achievements of our own. We re-use what was done before (while it was the 'golden age' of theoretical thinking). There should be a merge of interdisciplinary study of literature and culture, only then wide range of topics will start being discussed.

Cultural theory as we have it promises to grapple with some fundamental problems, but on the whole fails to deliver. It has been shamefaced about morality and metaphysics, embarrassed about love, biology, religion and revolution, largely silent about evil, reticent about death and suffering, dogmatic about essences, universals and foundations, and superficial about truth, objectivity and disinterestedness. This, on any estimate, is rather a large slice of human existence to fall down on. It is also, as we have suggested before, rather an awkward moment in history to find oneself with little or nothing to say about such fundamental questions. Eagleton writes four chapters that serve to remind his readers that there are such things as truth, morality, evil, and virtue in this world and that it is perhaps time to abandon irony as the primary way to respond to the world’s problems.

Eagleton concludes After Theory by arguing that 'cultural theory...cannot afford simply to keep recounting the same narratives of class, race and gender.... It needs to chance its arm, break out of a rather stifling orthodoxy and explore new topics'. But rather than making these demands and then attacking cultural theory when it fails to deliver, perhaps we should simply be getting on with developing new ideas about the world and how we might change it for the better.
In conclusion I feel Terry Eagleton is trying to explain that we are so interested in the everyday events of our lives that we have totally lost our focus of traditional thinking and the study of society. I personally agree with Eagleton that the grave problem with postmodern thought is that it has given up on asking the big question. Instead, we cultivate our small groups and consider primarily the questions that are important to our unique selves. The aftertaste of the book is that the example of the theory that Eagleton presents is a theory that forces the reader to take sides and passionately argue for them. In short, it is a theory that, while by no means perfect, allows for the reader and the practitioner to engage the fundamental questions that lie at the centre of our very existence. But we shouldn`t anyway forget that we are only humans and sometimes we are weak and have all rights to be so. The important thing is still to be able to raise serious questions as in the book and have a comprehensive discussion.