Author(s)

Cunjiu Kuang

Corresponding Author

Cunjiu Kuang

Abstract

Terry Eagleton’s ideological criticism and cultural criticism have been profoundly influenced by Austin’s and Searle’s speech act theory. He has included the speech act view of “speeches are performances of acts” into ideological power critique and elevated it to the level of cultural and political practices. In his view, literature is a speech act and fiction is also a speech act; “literature” has provided texts and propositions with particularly “specific” power. Literature is an institutionalized act, but it breeds an anti-institutional act, with a strong anti-authoritarian power.

Keywords

Terry Eagleton, ideological criticism, speech act theory