Perspective

Eagleton is a professor and academic who has spent years studying literary theory and its history and he is obviously very familiar with his subject matter. Eagleton is explicit from the book's opening that he is biased and opinionated and, further, that he will make no attempt to be objective. This is consistent with the general premise of his book; according to Eagleton, true objectivity is impossible and anything which claims to objective is dishonest. Eagleton's bias, then, is that the modern political and social structures are oppressive and need be to transformed or even abolished in favor of a socialist society. While his particular bias is not made explicit throughout the book, his constant critiques of capitalism heavily suggest it.

He is also very critical of certain types of literary theory that attempt to understand literature as something more than a social construct. As the conclusion makes...