One of Britain’s most influential literary theorists and critics, Terry Eagleton is Distinguished Professor of English Literature at the University of Lancaster, and a Visiting Professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway. In addition to the widely known Literary Theory: An Introduction, Professor Eagleton is the author of over fifty books, including The Ideology of the Aesthetic, andThe Illusions of Postmodernism. Alongside his theoretical and critical work, Eagleton has written novels, plays, screenplays, and a best-selling memoir, The Gatekeeper. Much of this creative work concerns Eagleton's Irish ancestry and his interest in the political history of Ireland. Professor Eagleton is a fellow of both the British Academy and the English Association, and has held visiting appointments at such universities as Cornell, Duke, Iowa, Melbourne, Notre Dame, Trinity College (Dublin), and Yale.