作者

特裏•伊格爾頓　英國曼徹斯特大學“約翰•愛德華•泰勒”英語教授，英國社會科學院院士。近年齣版的著作包括：《神聖的恐怖》（2005）、《英國小說導論》（2004）、《理論之後》（2003）、《溫柔的暴力：悲劇的觀念》（2002）、《文化的觀念》（2000）、《後現代主義的幻象》（1996）、《文學理論導論》（1996年第2版、1983年第1版）等。

序言作者

鄧曉芒　華中科技大學哲學係教授，德國哲學研究中心主任。專攻德國哲學，亦研究美學、文化心理學、中西文化比較等。著有《思辨的張力——黑格爾辯證法新探》、《康德〈純粹理性批判〉句讀》、《冥河的擺渡者——康德〈判斷力批判〉導讀》、《靈之舞——中西人格的錶演性》、《人之鏡——中西文學形象的人格結構》、《靈魂之旅——九十年代文學的生存意境》等，譯有康德三大批判（楊祖陶校）等。

'Philosophers have an infuriating habit of analysing questions rather than answering them', writes Terry Eagleton, who, in these pages, asks the most important question any of us ever ask, and attempts to answer it. So what is the meaning of life? In this witty, spirited, and stimulating inquiry, Eagleton shows how centuries of thinkers - from Shakespeare and Schopenhauer to Marx, Sartre and Beckett - have tackled the question. Refusing to settle for the bland and boring, Eagleton reveals with a mixture of humour and intellectual rigour how the question has become particularly problematic in modern times. Instead of addressing it head-on, we take refuge from the feelings of 'meaninglessness' in our lives by filling them with a multitude of different things: from football and sex, to New Age religions and fundamentalism. 'Many of the readers of this book are likely to be as sceptical of the phrase "the meaning of life" as they are of Santa Claus', he writes. But Eagleton contends that in a world where we need to find common meanings, it is important that we set about answering the question of all questions; and, in conclusion, he suggests his own answer.