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  • © 2017

Perversion Now!

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Demonstrates that the lens of perversion offers a unique perspective on every aspect of contemporary life, from private fantasies to political discourse
  • Brings perversion into dialogue with psychoanalytic theory on the one hand, and changing laws, social mores and technology on the other
  • Brings together an array of major Lacanian theorists and analysts from both sides of the Channel in an original and exciting way

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Lacan Series (PALS)

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Table of contents (24 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
  2. Introduction: Mapping Perversion in the Contemporary World

    • Diana Caine, Xavier Fourtou, Gyorgyi Koman, Hephzibah Rendle-Short, Colin Wright
    Pages 1-22
  3. Clinical Reflections from Freud to Lacan

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23
    2. Pervert, the Professor?

      • Xavier Fourtou
      Pages 25-34
    3. Perversion Now

      • Anne Worthington
      Pages 45-55
    4. Perversion and Perversity in Contemporary Love

      • Gorana Bulat-Manenti
      Pages 65-73
  4. Symptom or Structure: A Dichotomy?

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 75-75
    2. Perversion Since Freud?

      • Hélène Godefroy
      Pages 77-85
  5. The Fetish and the Feminine

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 129-129
    2. Queer Theory, Sexual Difference and Perversion

      • Arlette Pellé
      Pages 139-146
  6. Sublimation>Sinthome>Culture

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-155
  7. Sublimation>Sinthome>Culture

About this book

This collection, written by leading Lacanian psychoanalytic theorists and practitioners, explores the impact of shifts in contemporary culture, politics and society on the notion of ‘perversion’, which has undergone numerous profound changes in recent years. The book explores a wide range of issues, from changes in the psychoanalytic clinic, to transformations in the relationship between ‘transgression’ and the law; from the epistemic and diagnostic status of ‘perversion’ as a term, to the perverse turn in contemporary politics; from representations of perversion in cultural productions, to the interpretation of perverse cultural practices. Topical and controversial, academics and students of psychoanalysis, critical and cultural theory, and media studies will find this collection invaluable. In providing cutting edge theoretical debate, the book will also be attractive to practising and training psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists.








Reviews

“At a time when surface behaviour is increasingly used to frame diagnostic categories, it is all the more important to return to a structural clinic following the ground-breaking work of Freud and Lacan. This superb collection of essays takes us beyond the dominant social norms used to characterise sexual life, and focuses instead on underlying structure and subjectivity. Broad in its scope - ranging from clinical cases to literature, art and film - it allows a new understanding of perversion, challenging received views of human conduct and exploring the questions of desire, loss, anxiety and pain at the heart of embodied existence.” (Darian Leader, President of the College of Psychoanalysts)

“NOW is the moment to be versed in perversion. Conventional gender stereotypes are challenged, gender is fluid, sexual norms vanish, trans rights [are]the new civil rights frontier—only perversion is left for us to be different, it seems!  …this compelling collection challenges[s] the morally loaded notion of perversion to reveal a universal structure, neither unnatural nor morbid, in fact the very foundation of sexuality. Internationally recognized psychoanalysts and scholars contribute to this consistently thought-provoking, wide-ranging volume, an invaluable resource to psychoanalysts, psychologists, researchers, sexologists, or to anyone concerned with gender, sexuality and identity.” (Patricia Gherovici, psychoanalyst and author)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Neuropsychology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, United Kingdom

    Diana Caine

  • Department of Culture, Film & Media, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Colin Wright

About the editors

Diana Caine is a consultant neuropsychologist and Lacanian analyst at the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery in London, UK. She draws on psychoanalytic theory to re-think the implications of neurological damage for human subjectivity.

Colin Wright is Associate Professor in Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham, UK. He helps to run the Centre for Critical Theory there, and is the Director of the MA in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access