Description: Lacan Contra Foucault seeks to ground the divergences and confluences between these two key thinkers in relation to contemporary philosophy and criticism. Specifically the topics of sexuality, the theory of the subject, history and historicism, scientific formalization, and ultimately politics. In doing so, the authors in this volume open up new connections between Lacan and Foucault and shine a light on their contemporary relevance to politics and critical theory.
Brief description: Nadia Bou Ali is Assistant Professor at Civilization Studies Program, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She is currently completing a book entitled In the Hall of Mirrors: morality, politics, and the question of language (forthcoming).
Review Quotes:
"Taking us back and beyond the misleading cultural theory debate between 'structuralism' and 'poststructuralism' at the end of the twentieth century, this book sets the record straight, revisiting crucial discussions of knowledge, truth and causality and refining the conceptual agenda for an exciting path forward still available today and more salutary than ever." --James Penney, Professor of Cultural Studies and French & Francophone Studies, Trent University, Canada
"Too often these two titans of 20th Century French thought have been treated in parallel, like train tracks that move in the same direction but never intersect. Lacan Contra Foucault addresses this with excellent chapters by renowned thinkers that highlight points of contact and divergence: psychoanalysis and sexuality, structuralism and Marxism, knowledge-power and the politics of subjectivity. An indispensable collection that puts our thinking about these two figures on new tracks!" --Colin Wright, Psychoanalyst and Associate Professor of Critical Theory, The University of Nottingham, UK.