Welcome to Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art,

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2021, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (5): 36-47.

• Western Literary Theory • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Cruelfictions of Psychoanalysis: from Freud to Kafka; from Derrida to Mignotte

Jean-Michel Rabaté   

  1. University of Pennsylvania 
  • Online:2021-09-25 Published:2021-09-26
  • About author:Jean-Michel Rabaté, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania since 1992, is one of editors of the Journal of Modern Literature, chair of the Forum for Philosophy and Literature at the MLA, co-founder of Slought Foundation, where he organizes exhibitions, conferences, and public conversations. Since 2008, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Author or editor of more than forty books on modernism, psychoanalysis, philosophy and literary theory.

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Abstract: Derrida has asserted that the main problem encountered by psychoanalysis is the existence of cruelty, a question that has never been solved. Touria Mignotte has responded to these criticisms and queries in Cruelty, Sexuality, and the Unconscious in Psychoanalysis by deploying a concept of cruelty that is not simply cultural but psychoanalytical. Following Mignotte’s lead, I attempt to situate the investigation at a foundational level that looks at the body. Derrida’s argument about psychoanalysis is compared with Deleuze’s essay on sadism and masochism, after which I outline points of convergence in their approaches, which leads to discussions of texts by Freud, Nietzsche and Hegel. I conclude by tackling Kafka’s rethinking of cruelty via a short text on Prometheus.  

Key words:

cruelty, sadism, blood; the void, Prometheus