For many enlightened, liberal-minded thinkers today, and for most on the political left, evil is an outmoded concept. It smacks too much of absolute judgements and metaphysical certainties to suit the modern age. In this witty, accessible study, the prominent Marxist thinker Terry Eagleton launches a surprising defence of the reality of evil, drawing on literary, theological, and psychoanalytic sources to suggest that evil, no mere medieval artefact, is a real phenomenon with palpable force in our contemporary world. In a book that ranges from St. Augustine to alcoholism, Thomas Aquinas to Thomas Mann, Shakespeare to the Holocaust, Eagleton investigates the frightful plight of those doomed souls who apparently destroy for no reason. In the process, he poses a set of intriguing questions. Is evil really a kind of nothingness? Why should it appear so glamorous and seductive? Why does goodness seem so boring? Is it really possible for human beings to delight in destruction for no reason at all?

特里•伊格尔顿（Terry Eagleton，1943—），当代最具国际声誉的马克思主义研究学者，与美国的詹姆逊、德国的哈贝马斯并称为当今西方马克思主义理论界的三巨头。英国当代思想家。

他曾先后在剑桥大学、牛津大学、爱尔兰国立大学任教，著有多部重要文化及思潮理论观察的书籍，是当代英国最具代表性的新马克思主义研究理论家和文化理论家。一九八三年他的著作《文学理论介绍》（LiteraryTheory: AnIntroduction）对新潮流的介绍通俗易懂甚至引人入胜，被重印了将近二十次，成为二十世纪八九十年代文学系学生的必读教材。伊格尔顿定期为《卫报》和《伦敦书评》以及其他许多主流媒体撰写文章。查尔斯王子曾高度评价其在学术界的地位，称其为“可怕的伊格尔顿”。

“意识形态”这一理论史上人言人殊的难题，是伊格尔顿思想的理论基石，是其文化批评的核心范畴，是其思考文学、美学的前提。正是由于他对意识形态概念本身所具有的复杂性的充分开拓和挖掘，才使他对文学与美学问题的研究显得别具一格。