What do you think?
Rate this book
Homo Psyche: On Queer Theory and Erotophobia
Winner, Alan Bray Memorial Book Award
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-�-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.
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-�-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.
ebook
Published June 1, 2021
5 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 12, 2023
The fact that a book with this title had such shit reviews warranted I drop everything and wrestle with it. Reader, it was deep mud wrestling. The author is extremely knowledgable about both psychoanalytic and queer theory. Like, extremely. They are also the thickest, most confusing writer I’ve ever read.
If Mari Ruti is the most approachable theorist to read, Ashtor is for sure the opposite. There is a French saying going “what is well conceived can be clearly stated”, and I simply do not think anything here is clearly stated…or well conceived/fleshed out.
The analysis of different theorists are often 6ft wide and 1ft deep and they more often than not have little to do with the title of the book. Is qt erotophobic? I wouldn’t know after reading this book.
2 stars for Laplanche though, I am biased and I love my man.
If Mari Ruti is the most approachable theorist to read, Ashtor is for sure the opposite. There is a French saying going “what is well conceived can be clearly stated”, and I simply do not think anything here is clearly stated…or well conceived/fleshed out.
The analysis of different theorists are often 6ft wide and 1ft deep and they more often than not have little to do with the title of the book. Is qt erotophobic? I wouldn’t know after reading this book.
2 stars for Laplanche though, I am biased and I love my man.
Displaying 1 of 1 review