Homo Psyche

On Queer Theory and Erotophobia

Gila Ashtor

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English

Fordham University Press
01 June 2021

2022 Lammy Finalist, LGBTQ Studies

Can queer theory be erotophobic? This book proceeds from the perplexing observation that for all of its political agita, rhetorical virtuosity, and intellectual restlessness, queer theory conforms to a model of erotic life that is psychologically conservative and narrow. Even after several decades of combative, dazzling, irreverent queer critical thought, the field remains far from grasping that sexuality's radical potential lies in its being understood as ""exogenous, intersubjective and intrusive"" (Laplanche). In particular, and despite the pervasiveness and popularity of recent calls to deconstruct the ideological foundations of contemporary queer thought, no study has as yet considered or in any way investigated the singular role of psychology in shaping the field's conceptual impasses and politico-ethical limitations.

Through close readings of key thinkers in queer theoretical thought-Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Leo Bersani, Lee Edelman, Judith Butler, Lauren Berlant, and Jane Gallop-Homo Psyche introduces metapsychology as a new dimension of analysis vis-a-vis the theories of French psychoanalyst Jean Laplanche, who insisted on ""new foundations for psychoanalysis"" that radically departed from existing Freudian and Lacanian models of the mind. Staging this intervention, Ashtor deepens current debates about the future of queer studies by demonstrating how the field's systematic neglect of metapsychology as a necessary and independent realm of ideology ultimately enforces the complicity of queer studies with psychological conventions that are fundamentally erotophobic and therefore inimical to queer theory's radical and ethical project.

By: Gila Ashtor
Imprint: Fordham University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780823294152
ISBN 10: 0823294153
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 01 June 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Gila Ashtor is a critical theorist, psychoanalyst, and writer. She teaches at Columbia University and is a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City. She trained at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) and is the author of a book on psychoanalytic theory, Exigent Psychoanalysis: The Interventions of Jean Laplanche, and an experimental memoir, Aural History.

Reviews for Homo Psyche: On Queer Theory and Erotophobia

Gila Ashtor's Homo Psyche is a bold and ambitious attempt to rethink the foundations of contemporary queer theory beyond its customary psyche versus anti-psyche (or psychoanalysis versus anti-psychoanalysis) divisions. The need to transcend these pointless divisions--which lead to paralyzing intellectual impasses--is undoubtedly an urgent task. In this sense, Ashtor's book is a timely and astute intervention.---Mari Ruti, author of Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday Life, and The Ethics of Opting Out: Queer Theory's Defiant Subjects,