What is Literature: A Summary on Terry Eagleton's First Chapter of Introduction to Literary Theory To define what literature is, Terry Eagleton uses other peoples definitions and evaluates them against one another. He points out reasons for each definition to be well-founded but also highlights their weaknesses. Firstly, however, he starts with the basic question if literature has to be fictional but instantly presents us with the fact that English literature at all times contains not only imaginative writing but also factual writing. Furthermore he explains the problem of texts being differently perceived in...
manner with the same prejudices and the same perceptions. Of course that was because his students were of the same origins and had the same educations. They did not only respond to the poems in literary ways but also emotionally. Thus this is the final proof of how deciding what literature is, can only always be in a subjective manner.

Eventually, Terry Eagleton draws the conclusion that the social groups that are in the leading positions will define the value-judgements of each generation and therefore nothing about literature is objective. It is dependent on the beliefs of society.