Polysexuality

by François Peraldi (Editor)

Mixing documents, interviews, fiction, theory, poetry, psychiatry and anthropology, Polysexuality became the encyclopedia sexualis of a continent that is still emerging. Originally conceived as a special Semiotext(e) issue on homosexuality at the end of the 70s, "Polysexuality" quickly evolved into a more complex and iconoclastic project whose intent was to do away with recognized genders altogether, considered far too limitative. The project landed somewhere between humor, anarchy, science-fiction, utopia and apocalypse. In the few years that it took to put it together, it also evolved from a joyous schizo concept to a darker, neo-Lacanian elaboration on the impossibility of sexuality. The tension between the two, occasionally perceptible, is the theoretical subtext of the issue. Upping the ante on gender distinctions, Polysexuality started by blowing wide open all sexual classifications, inventing unheard-of categories, regrouping singular features into often original configurations, like Corporate Sex, Alimentary Sex, Soft or Violent Sex, Discursive Sex, Self- Sex, Animal Sex, Child Sex, Morbid Sex, or Sex of the Gaze. Mixing documents, interviews, fiction, theory, poetry, psychiatry and anthropology, Polysexuality became the encyclopedia sexualis of a continent that is still emerging. What it displayed in all its forms could be called, broadly speaking, the Sexuality of Capital. (Actually the issue being rather hot, it was decided to cool it off somewhat by only using "capitals" throughout the issue. It was also the first issue for which we used the computer). The Polysexuality issue was attacked in Congress for its alleged advocation of animal sex. Includes work by Alain Robbe-Grillet, F�lix Guattari, Paul Verlaine, William S. Burroughs, Georges Bataille, Pierre Klossowski, Roland Barthes, Paul Virilio, Peter Lamborn Wilson, and more.

Genres: Ebooks, Philosophy, Sexuality, Nonfiction, Queer

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[6655321 · Rating 1 out of 5]

nothing Semiotext(e) has ever put out has aged well (the final chapter by Lortinger along with the Lacan pieces and oh god the erotica) all read like Zizek (this is not a compliment) trying desperately to be edgy without actually saying anything. The pieces that are not uniformly terrible (a case history of a masochist, the pieces by Bataille, Deleuze, Guattari and Hocquenghem & WSB totally dialing it in) are all still dated, largely available for free & most notably actively work against the other pieces in the collection. As a historical curiosity this is *maybe* a 2 star book. If you are into having #notable books on yr shelf as some sort of misplaced stand in for actually reading books you should snatch up a used copy of this on Amazon to look like you were into this before it was cool. Also i guess worth noting is that just because erotica is written in French does not actually mean it is any good.

[Sheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is challenging and beautiful and opened my eyes to other worlds.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird, though I liked the article on asexuality at the end.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird! Great!

Selected texts are all over the place, some seemed kinda pointless, some were rubbish, most were brilliant. Would be 5 stars for the number of gems in here that I haven't found anywhere else, and the inherent attack on categorical sexuality and gender. Demoted because there are almost 50 selections within and all but maybe 4 or 5 seem to be written by men. There were enough smart folks who weren't men writing before 1981 and and enough lukewarm selections included here that I took issue, even though the editors did a great job moving beyond a project on homosexuality. I'd still strongly recommend it as a way to start blowing normative minds if you are interested in getting rid of stale and rigid boundaries of sexuality and gender. It's just not the end and sum of such investigations, which is how a couple folks have described it to me.

This book took me way longer to read than I would have guessed. The print is small and it was easy to get lost.

[Leonardo]

Sobre las migraciones de la sexualidad y las perversiones sexuales.

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