For many enlightened, liberal-minded thinkers today, and for most on the politic
al 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 s
tudy, the prominent Marxist thinker Terry Eagleton launches a surprising defence
of the reality of evil, drawing on literary, theological, and psychoanalytic so
urces to suggest that evil, no mere medieval artefact, is a real phenomenon with
palpable force in our contemporary world.
