The End of Dissatisfaction?: Jacques Lacan and the Emerging Society of Enjoyment

by Todd McGowan

Overview

Winner of the 2004 Gary Olson Award for best book in cultural theory presented by JAC

Exploring the emergence of a societal imperative to enjoy ourselves, Todd McGowan builds on the work of such theorists as Jacques Lacan, Slavoj Zðizûek, Joan Copjec, and Theresa Brennan to argue that we are in the midst of a large-scale transformation—a shift from a society oriented around prohibition (i.e., the notion that one cannot just do as one pleases) to one oriented around enjoyment. McGowan identifies many of the social ills of American culture today as symptoms of this transformation: the sense of disconnection, the increase in aggression and violence, widespread cynicism, political apathy, incivility, and loss of meaning. Discussing these various symptoms, he examines various texts from film, literature, popular culture, and everyday life, including Toni Morrison's Paradise, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, and such films as Dead Poets Society and Trigger Effect. Paradoxically, The End of Dissatisfaction? shows how the American cultural obsession with enjoying ourselves actually makes it more difficult to do so.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791459683
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	11/20/2003
Series:	SUNY series in Psychoanalysis and Culture
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Todd McGowan is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Vermont and the author of The Feminine "No!": Psychoanalysis and the New Canon, also published by SUNY Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Psychoanalysis after Marx

1. From Prohibition to Enjoyment

2. The Decline of Paternal Authority

3. Embracing the Image

4. Shrinking Distances

5. Interpretation under Duress

6. The Appeal of Cynicism

7. The Politics of Apathy

8. A Missing Public World

9. Explosions of Incivility, Aggressiveness, and Violence

Conclusion: From Imaginary Enjoyment to Its Real Counterpart

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This is a compelling and indeed paradigm-shifting book that successfully combines Lacanian theory with cultural criticism to provide an in-depth analysis of the effects of global capitalism on contemporary American subjects. It is essential reading for those interested in cultural studies, psychoanalysis, contemporary film criticism, and contemporary literature."

From the Publisher