An original critique of queer theory, from a psychoanalytic perspective.
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.
| ISBN: | 9780791467701 |
| Publication date: | 1st June 2007 |
| Author: | James Penney |
| Publisher: | SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 259 pages |
| Series: | SUNY Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture |
| Genres: |
Gender studies, gender groups LGBTQ+ Studies / topics Literary theory |
An original critique of queer theory, from a psychoanalytic perspective.
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.
The World of Perversion features in the following genres: Gender studies, gender groups, LGBTQ+ Studies / topics, Literary theory
The World of Perversion is available in Paperback, Hardback
The World of Perversion was written by James Penney and published by SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press
The World of Perversion has 259 pages
Yes it is part of SUNY Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture series