i know what luka means. i think reading eagleton or jameson is non-starter because they are second-order exploiters of other people's ideas, and generally seem to follow the wind. these days eagleton praises raymond williams, e p thompson, et al, but he used to be a total shit about them. why? because althusser was 'the shit' way back when and he followed the money. for a general intro i'd recommend perry anderson's 'considerations on western marxism', which considers why bright people like the posters here read very politically involved tomes which are restricted almost exclusively to cultural criticism, hence crazy concentration on 'the subject' ect ect. not that one would want to write off *all theory* (how philisitne) -- even though theorists are quite happy to write off *all history* when the mood suits.