Introduction; Part I. Hegel: The Historical And Philosophical Setting: 1. The Hegelian dialectic; 2. Historical backgrounds; 3. Hegel, philosopher of capitalism; 4. Hegel on identity and difference; 5. Hegelian identity and economics; Part II. Literary Theory: Reading The Dialectic: 6.

Hegel and deconstruction: 7. Hegel on language; 8. Literary theory on Hegel and language Saussure, Barthes, Derrida, Deleuze; 9. Hegel, language, and the unconscious Kristeva; 10. Hegel's dialectic of master and slave; 11. The master-slave dialectic in literary theory: allegorical readings: Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida; 12. Marx on the Hegelian dialectic; 13. Hegel and Marxist literary theory (I) Horkheimer, Adorno and Benjamin; 14.

Hegel and Marxist literary theory (II) Slavoj Zizek; 15. Hegel on woman: Antigone; 16. Feminists on Hegel and Antigone: Irigaray, Butler, (Derrida); 17. Historical contexts of Hegel's views on women; Epilogue: the futures of theory: towards a dialectical humanism.