Masculinity, Psychoanalysis, Straight Queer Theory: Essays On Abjection In Literature, Mass Culture, And Film

MASCULINITY, PSYCHOANALYSIS, STRAIGHT QUEER THEORY This page intentionally left blank MASCULINITY, PSYCHOANALYSIS, STRAIGHT QUEER THEORY ESSAYS ON ABJECTION IN LITERATURE, MASS CULTURE, AND FILM Calvin Thomas masculinity, psychoanalysis, straight queer theory Copyright © Calvin Thomas, 2008. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-10: 0–230–60008–5 ISBN-13: 978–0–230–60008–9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thomas, Calvin, 1956– Masculinity, psychoanalysis, straight queer theory : essays on abjection in literature, mass culture, and fi lm / by Calvin Thomas. p. cm. ISBN 0-230-60008-5 1. Abjection in literature. 2. Abjection in motion pictures. 3. Masculinity in literature. 4. Masculinity in motion pictures. I. Title. PN56.A23T46 2008 809'.933521—dc22 2007041259 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Westchester Book Group First edition: May 2008 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. To Amber and Jason, who help me keep my shoulders up. Long may they rule. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments and Permissions ix Introduction: Abject (without) Apologies xi 1 Beginning with a Bit of (Be)Hindsight . . . 2 Re-enfleshing the Bright Boys; or, How Male Bodies Might Matter to Feminist Theory 3 Must Desire Be Taken Literally? 4 Cultural Droppings: On Bersani and Beckett 5 Is What You Want Something You Can Discuss? 6 “It’s No Longer Your Film”: Abjection and (the) Mulholland (Death) Drive 1 145 Notes 167 Works Cited 207 Index 217 19 63 73 93 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PERMISSIONS AND A number of lovely and generous people helped to lubricate various parts of this project. The first essay, “Beginning with a Bit of (Be) Hindsight . . . ,” is a revised and expanded version of a piece that was written for keynote presentation at the conference on “Men’s Bodies” orga nized by Judith Still (who I thank for inviting me to come speak) at the University of Nottingham in 2001; it was published as “Racing Forms and the Exhibition(ist) (Mis)Match”in Men’s Bodies, edited by Judith Still (Edinburgh University Press, 2003) and appears here by kind permission of Edinburgh University Press. The second essay, “Reenfleshing the Bright Boys,” is a considerably revised and expanded version of a piece that was first presented as a keynote address at the conference on “Posting the Male: Representations of Masculinity in the Twentieth Century” at the Research Centre for Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University in 2000, and I thank Daniel Lea, Gill Plain, and Berthold Schoene-Harwood for their invitation. The piece was first published in a much s