The End of Dissatisfaction?

Todd Mcgowan

Description

Winner of the 2004 Gary Olson Award for best book in cultural theory presented by JAC

Exploring the emergence of a societal imperative to enjoy ourselves, Todd McGowan builds on the work of such theorists as Jacques Lacan, Slavoj Zðizûek, Joan Copjec, and Theresa Brennan to argue that we are in the midst of a large-scale transformation—a shift from a society oriented around prohibition (i.e., the notion that one cannot just do as one pleases) to one oriented around enjoyment. McGowan identifies many of the social ills of American culture today as symptoms of this transformation: the sense of disconnection, the increase in aggression and violence, widespread cynicism, political apathy, incivility, and loss of meaning. Discussing these various symptoms, he examines various texts from film, literature, popular culture, and everyday life, including Toni Morrison's Paradise, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, and such films as Dead Poets Society and Trigger Effect. Paradoxically, The End of Dissatisfaction? shows how the American cultural obsession with enjoying ourselves actually makes it more difficult to do so.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Psychoanalysis after Marx

1. From Prohibition to Enjoyment

2. The Decline of Paternal Authority

3. Embracing the Image

4. Shrinking Distances

5. Interpretation under Duress

6. The Appeal of Cynicism

7. The Politics of Apathy

8. A Missing Public World

9. Explosions of Incivility, Aggressiveness, and Violence

Conclusion: From Imaginary Enjoyment to Its Real Counterpart

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Popular culture
• Literary theory

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791485712
• Langue: English

Extrait

T H E E N D O F D I S S A T I S F A C T I O N ?

SUNY series in Psychoanalysis and Culture Henry Sussman, editor

T H E E N D O F D I S S A T I S F A C T I O N ?

Jacques Lacan and the Emerging Society of Enjoyment

T O D D M c G O WA N

S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w Yo r k P r e s s

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2004 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, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Christine L. Hamel Marketing by Anne Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

McGowan, Todd. The end of dissatisfaction? : Jacques Lacan and the emerging society of enjoyment / by Todd McGowan. p. cm. — (SUNY series in psychoanalysis and culture) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-7914-5967-5 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5968-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Psychoanalysis and culture. 2. Lacan, Jacques, 1901– I. Title. II. Series.

BF175.4.C84M4 2004 306.4'8—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2003045839

For Paul Eisenstein,

thesine qua non

This page intentionally left blank.

Acknowledgments

Introduction Psychoanalysis after Marx

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Contents

From Prohibition to Enjoyment

The Decline of Paternal Authority

Embracing the Image

Shrinking Distances

Interpretation under Duress

The Appeal of Cynicism

The Politics of Apathy

A Missing Public World

Explosions of Incivilty, Aggressiveness, and Violence

Conclusion From Imaginary Enjoyment to Its Real Counterpart

Notes

Index

vii

i

x

1

11

4

1

59

7

5

95

121

137

155

177

191

197

233

This page intentionally left blank.

Acknowledgments

An early version of a section of chapter 2, entitled “From Enjoyment to Aggres- sivity: The Emergence of the New Father in Contemporary American Society,” appeared in theJournal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society3.1 (Spring 1998): 53–60. An early version of a section of chapter 7 appeared as “‘In That Way He Lost Everything’: The Price of Satisfaction in E. L. Doctorow’sWorld’s Fair” inCritique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction42 (2001): 233–40 (reprinted with permission of the Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation and pub- lished by Heldref Publications, 1319 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, Copyright 2001). An early version of a section of chapter 8, entitled “The Phe- nomenology of City Life: The Reign of the Imaginary inTrigger Effect,” appeared inThe Spectator18.1 (Fall/Winter 1997): 51–57. And revised portions of an essay entitled “The Master Amid Rumors of His Demise: Politics in a Time of ‘Satisfaction,’” published in theJournal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society4.1 (Spring 1999): 72–80, appear throughout the book. Thanks to all of these journals for permission to publish this material. I would like to thank my graduate theory classes at Southwest Texas State University for their insights into Lacan that made a direct impact on this book. Thanks especially to Phil Foster for taking the knife to the project. I am indebted to James Peltz at SUNY Press for being the kind of editor that one dare not even hope for and for helping to create one of the few con- temporary homes for psychoanalytic theory. Thanks to Jean Wyatt for a reading that brought everything into focus for me. Thanks to Mike Ashooh and Quentin Martin for having the kindness to be cruel and offering readings that forced me to change everything at the moment I thought it was finished. Finally, thanks to Walter Davis, Paul Eisenstein, and Hilary Neroni, the three people who have informed every word of this project.

ix