University to launch The Terry Eagleton Archive collection

Professor Eagleton, who was born in Salford, entrusted the collection to the University for its long-term preservation and research use. The extensive collection includes previously unseen manuscripts of his plays and poetry, cassette tapes, photos, handwritten notes and other material relating to his academic life, dating back from the early 1960s all the way to 2026.

It also includes an almost complete run of Slant, the left-leaning Catholic journal that Professor Eagleton edited between 1964 and 1969.

An exhibition to showcase items from the collection will be available for the public to peruse in the Clifford Whitworth Library on our Peel Park campus from Tuesday 24 November to Friday 11 December with a curated selection of items to be made available in a new online archive from Friday 20 November on Salford Digital Archives.

Alexandra Mitchell, Archivist at the University of Salford, said: “As the university of his birth place, we are deeply honoured to have been entrusted with this collection from Professor Terry Eagleton, a scholar whose name carries global resonance.

“We feel very lucky to be in receipt of this collection, which not only provides an insight into Terry’s renowned intellect but also his incredible work ethic.

“From unpublished plays and poetry to the copious reviews and articles he has written, we know this archive will be of interest to his fellow literary critics from around the world.”

It is the largest collection that the University has taken on in recent years and is considered a coup for the institution considering Professor Eagleton’s previous scholarly prowess.

Currently a Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, Professor Eagleton studied English at the University of Cambridge, becoming the youngest fellow at Jesus College since the 18th century.

Between 1968 and 1969, he became a fellow and tutor at the University of Oxford and was made Thomas Warton Professor of English in 1992. He returned to the north west in 2001, when he became the John Edward Taylor Professor of English at the University of Manchester before joining Lancaster University in 2008. The University of Salford also gave Professor Eagleton an honorary degree in 1993.

He has written around 50 books, most notably Literary Theory: An Introduction, which was published in 1983 and has sold over 750,000 copies. His most recent book A Death of One’s Own: Reflections on Mortality was released last month.