The World of Perversion

James Penney

Description

In The World of Perversion, James Penney argues that antihomophobic criticism has nothing to lose—and indeed everything to gain—by reclaiming the psychoanalytic concept of perversion as psychic structure. Analyzing the antagonism between psychoanalytic approaches to perversion and those inspired by the work of Michel Foucault, Penney explores how different assumptions about sexuality have determined the development of contemporary queer theory, and how the universalizing approach to homosexuality in psychoanalysis actually leads to more useful political strategies for nonheterosexual subjects. Having established this theoretical context, Penney focuses on works by Georges Bataille, Blaise Pascal, Denis Diderot, and Jacques Lacan, tracing the implications of various sexual and moral understandings of the term perversion, and illustrating how a psychoanalytic approach to the question of perversion enables politicized readings that are foreclosed by a Foucauldian methodology.

Acknowledgments

1. Epistemologies of Perversion

Perversity and Perversion
Perversion as Power
Perversion as Structure
Fetishism, Sexual Difference, Homosexuality
Worlds of Perversion: A Reader’s Guide

2. Confessions of a Medieval Sodomite

Meet Gilles de Rais
The Spectacle of Perversion
The Tragedy of History
An Innocent Transference
Radically Evil?
The Perverse Sacrifice

3. Cleopatra’s Nose

Pascal's Modernity
The Tragic Absolute
From Sin to Infinity
Ideological State Automatons
A Distracted Dialectic
Grace, or the Act of Faith

4. This Whole World of Perversion

Dialogue and Dialectic
The Cynical Other
A Revolt against the Negative
Wealth and Power
Hysterical Pantomime
The Beyond of Perversion

5. The Guardian of Criminal Being

Lacan contra Hegel
Ethical Beauty
The Real of Destiny
Pleasure Unbound
Suffering for Beauty
Artfully Screwed

6. Concluding (Un)Queer-Theoretical Postscript

Perversion and Its Discontents
A Dynamic Perversion
The Minoritarian Temptation
Hysteria in the Shadow of the State
The Paradox of Desublimation
The Subject of Sex

Notes
Index

Sujets

• Literary theory
• Gender studies

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791481677
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The World of Perversion P s y c h o a n a l y s i s a n d t h e I m p o s s i b l e A b s o l u t e o f D e s i r e

James Penney

The World of Per version

SUNY series in Psychoanalysis and Culture Henry Sussman, editor

The World of Per version

Psychoanalysis and the Impossible Absolute of Desire

James Penney

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2006 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Penney, James, 1971– The world of perversion : psychoanalysis and the impossible absolute of desire / James Penney. p. cm. — (SUNY series in psychoanalysis and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6769-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Psychoanalysis. 2. Sexual deviation. 3. Desire. I. Title. II. Series.

BF175.5.S48P46 2006 150.19'5—dc22

ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6769-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2005019597

For my parents, Claire and Doug. And for Justin: Welcome to the world—May it be better when you leave it than when you arrived.

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One

Two

Three

Four

Acknowledgments

Contents

Epistemologies of Perversion Per versity and Per version Per version as Power Per version as Structure Fetishism, Sexual Difference, Homosexuality Worlds of Perversion: A Reader’s Guide

Confessions of a Medieval Sodomite Meet Gilles de Rais The Spectacle of Per version The Tragedy of Histor y An Innocent Transference Radically Evil? The Per verse Sacrifice

Cleopatra’s Nose Pascal’s Modernity The Tragic Absolute From Sin to Infinity Ideological State Automatons A Distracted Dialectic Grace, or the Act of Faith

This Whole World of Perversion Dialogue and Dialectic The Cynical Other

vii

xi

1 1 2 11 21 28

35 35 37 42 50 54 59

69 69 75 80 87 93 98

103 103 108

viii

Five

Six

Preface

A Revolt against the Negative Wealth and Power Hysterical Pantomime The Beyond of Per version

The Guardian of Criminal Being Lacan contra Hegel Ethical Beauty The Real of Destiny Pleasure Unbound Suffering for Beauty Artfully Screwed

Concluding (Un)Queer-Theoretical Postscript Per version and Its Discontents A Dynamic Per version The Minoritarian Temptation Hysteria in the Shadow of the State The Paradox of Desublimation The Subject of Sex

Notes

Index

113 117 123 130

139 139 143 148 153 157 164

173 173 175 184 190 201 210

221

241

Preface

Lacan, ce n’est pas gai. —Catherine Clément

ix