Perversion and the Social Relation

Molly Anne Rothenberg

Description

The masochist, the voyeur, the sadist, the sodomite, the fetishist, the pedophile, and the necrophiliac all expose hidden but essential elements of the social relation. Arguing that the concept of perversion, usually stigmatized, ought rather to be understood as a necessary stage in the development of all non-psychotic subjects, the essays in Perversion and the Social Relation consider the usefulness of the category of the perverse for exploring how social relations are formed, maintained, and transformed.By focusing on perversion as a psychic structure rather than as aberrant behavior, the contributors provide an alternative to models of social interpretation based on classical Oedipal models of maturation and desire. At the same time, they critique claims that the perverse is necessarily subversive or liberating. In their lucid introduction, the editors explain that while fixation at the stage of the perverse can result in considerable suffering for the individual and others, perversion motivates social relations by providing pleasure and fulfilling the psychological need to put something in the place of the Father. The contributors draw on a variety of psychoanalytic perspectives-Freudian and Lacanian-as well as anthropology, history, literature, and film. From Slavoj Zizek's meditation on "the politics of masochism" in David Fincher's movie Fight Club through readings of works including William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner, Don DeLillo's White Noise, and William Burroughs's Cities of the Red Night, the essays collected here illuminate perversion's necessary role in social relations.Contributors. Michael P. Bibler, Dennis A. Foster, Bruce Fink, Octave Mannoni, E. L. McCallum, James Penney, Molly Anne Rothenberg, Nina Schwartz, Slavoj Zizek

Sujets

• Cultural studies

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 21 mai 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822384724
• Langue: English

Extrait

Perversion

and

the

Social Relation

sic

A

series

edited

by

Slavoj

Žižek

SIC stands for psychoana- lytic interpretation at its most elementary: no dis- covery of deep, hidden meaning, just the act of drawing attention to the litterality [sic!] of what pre- cedes it. A ‘‘sic’’ reminds us that what was said, in- clusive of its blunders, was effectively said and cannot be undone. The series SIC thus explores different connections to the Freud- ian field: each volume pro- vides a bundle of Lacanian interventions into a speci- fic domain of ongoing theoretical, cultural, and ideologico-political battles. It is neither ‘‘pluralist’’ nor ‘‘socially sensitive’’: Unabashedly avowing its exclusive Lacanian orienta- tion, it disregards any form of correctness but the inherent correctness of theory itself.

sic 4

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Perversion

and

the

Social Relation

Molly Anne Rothenberg, Dennis Foster, and Slavoj Žižek, editors

Durham and London 

©  Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper  Typeset in Sabon by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

Acknowledgments

ix

Contents

Molly Anne Rothenberg and Dennis Foster,Introduction. Beneath the Skin: Perversion and Social Analysis 

Dennis Foster,Fatal West: W. S. Burroughs’s Perverse Destiny

Bruce Fink,Perversion



Octave Mannoni,‘‘I Know Well, but All the Same . . .’’



Nina Schwartz,Exotic Rituals and Family Values inExotica

Slavoj Žižek,The Ambiguity of the Masochist Social Link

James Penney,Confessions of a Medieval Sodomite









Michael P. Bibler,‘‘As If Set Free into Another Land’’: Homosexuality, Rebellion, and Community in William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner

E. L. McCallum,Contamination’s Germinations

Works Cited

Contributors

Index









Acknowledgments

We owe a debt of gratitude to Bruce Fink for his generosity in allowing us to re-present his work on perversion, which forms such an important theoretical foundation for our work. The editorial staff at Duke University Press, especially Reynolds Smith, Sharon Parks Torian, Leigh Anne Couch, and Christine Sweeney, has offered professional and timely assistance. Many thanks to Louise James, Department of English, Tulane University, for her help in preparing the manuscript.