Were it a UK article it would have mentioned Arnold and in particular Cambridge's FR Leavis, maybe the last EngLit person to make a name in the UK. Though Cambridge hosted Wittgenstein, I don't think there was a subsequent lit powerplay. Perhaps competition from DNA-discoverers etc gave Cambridge's lit dept a sense of proportion. Also we English are resistant to French influence. Cambridge is still partial to Marx, I'm told.
Terry Eagleton is currently England's best known lit theorist - known also for his non-lit pronouncements.
I'm not put off by the term "literary theory", but I suspect I take it to mean something broader than is usually intended. I recently, belatedly read Abrams' "The mirror and the lamp", which was a fun read. Maybe it's only "literary criticism". I sometimes wonder whether people use the term "literary theory" for litcrit that they don't understand.
PS: I think Italy's big theorist, Croce, became some kind of education minister. Ah, those were the days.
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