Lacan and the Destiny of Literature: Desire, Jouissance and the Sinthome in Shakespeare, Donne, Joyce and Ashbery
(Paperback, NIPPOD)
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Publishing Details
Lacan and the Destiny of Literature: Desire, Jouissance and the Sinthome in Shakespeare, Donne, Joyce and Ashbery
By (Author) Dr Ehsan Azari
Continuum Publishing Corporation
Continuum Publishing Corporation
27th October 2011
NIPPOD
United States
Classifications
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology
Western philosophy from c 1800
801.95092
Physical Properties
Paperback
216
Width 156mm, Height 234mm
Description
In contemporary academic literary studies, Lacan is often considered impenetrably obscure, due to the unavailability of his late works, insufficient articulation of his methodologies and sometimes stereotypical use of Lacanian concepts in literary theory.
This study aims to integrate Lacan into contemporary literary study by engaging with a broad range of Lacanian theoretical concepts, often for the first time in English, and using them to analyse a range of key texts from different periods.
Azari explores Lacan's theory of desire as well as his final theories of lituraterre, littoral, and the sinthome and interrogates a range of poststructuralist interpretive approaches. In the second part of the book, he outlines the variety of ways in which Lacanian theory can be applied to literary texts and offers detailed readings of texts by Shakespeare, Donne, Joyce and Ashbery. This ground-breaking study provides original insights into a number of the most influential intellectual discussions in relation to Lacan and will fill a recognised gap in understanding Lacan and his legacy for literary study and criticism.
Reviews
"Ehsan Azari has written a truly brilliant book. By explaining Lacan's various theories on desire, Mr. Azari gives an example of what a literary criticism would be within a Lacanian view of psychoanalysis. Not only is his grasp of the complexity of Lacanian theory solid and thorough, his use of literary examples is exemplary. Moreover, he situates Lacan where he belongs in relation to post-structuralist thinkers, showing what they have taken from Lacan. These critiques in themselves are worth reading the book. They are terse and correct. All in all this book is a tour de force." - Professor Ellie Ragland, Department of English, University of Missouri-Columbia, USA. She is the author of The Logic of Sexuation: From Aristotle to Lacan (State University of New York Press, 2004).
Author Bio
Ehsan Azari is a Sydney-based Afghan writer, whose writing appears in the international press, and has taught at Macquarie University, Australia.
