The Death Drive
Philosophy, Literature, Theory
Will be published approx. on 8. January 2026
Book
Hardback
280 pages
978-1-350-46567-1 (ISBN)
Description
The first collection to provide an overview of the well-known psychoanalytic theory of the death drive in literary and cultural theory, this book features contributions from a range of prominent scholars working in the area of literature, philosophy, and psychanalysis.
After Freud's initial theorization, the death-drive has been re-interpreted by various psychoanalytic thinkers (including Melanie Klein, Jacques Lacan, and Slavoj Zizek), philosophers (Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean Baudrillard), political theorists (Judith Butler), queer theorists (Laurent Berlant, Lee Edelman), and posthumanists (Rosi Braidotti).
This volume brings together some of the leading thinkers and theorists of the death-drive as a psychological, aesthetic, and theoretical principle in literary and cultural theory, examining texts by writers such as Plato, Henry James, and Ezra Pound.
After Freud's initial theorization, the death-drive has been re-interpreted by various psychoanalytic thinkers (including Melanie Klein, Jacques Lacan, and Slavoj Zizek), philosophers (Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean Baudrillard), political theorists (Judith Butler), queer theorists (Laurent Berlant, Lee Edelman), and posthumanists (Rosi Braidotti).
This volume brings together some of the leading thinkers and theorists of the death-drive as a psychological, aesthetic, and theoretical principle in literary and cultural theory, examining texts by writers such as Plato, Henry James, and Ezra Pound.
Reviews / Votes
This cutting-edge collection of essays transforms our understanding of the death drive in Freud and his antecedents and successors. Written by a distinguished cohort of scholars, the chapters engage with the most challenging developments in recent psychoanalytic and cultural theory from Foucault's biopolitics to queer theory and Afro-pessimism. * Maud Ellmann, Randy L and Melvin R Berlin Distinguished Service Professor of English Emerita, University of Chicago, USA * This magnificent volume shows how, while initially deemed dead on arrival, Freud's concept of the death drive is having a remarkable afterlife. * Noelle McAfee, Professor of Philosophy, Emory University, USA *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
2 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
587 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-46567-1 (9781350465671)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jeffrey R. Di Leo is Professor of English and Philosophy at Texas A&M University-Victoria, USA. He is editor and founder of the critical theory journal symploke, editor-in-chief of American Book Review, and Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange and its Winter Theory Institute. He is author, editor, or co-editor of 40 books. His recent books include Happiness (2022), Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: An Overview (2023), and Out of Print (2024).
Paul Allen Miller is Carolina Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina, USA and Visiting Distinguished Professor at Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea. He has held visiting appointments in Bochum, Paris, and Beijing. He has published eleven books, sixteen edited volumes, and many articles; his latest book is Theory Does not Exist: Comparative Ancient and Modern Explorations in Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis and Rhetoric (2024).
Paul Allen Miller is Carolina Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina, USA and Visiting Distinguished Professor at Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea. He has held visiting appointments in Bochum, Paris, and Beijing. He has published eleven books, sixteen edited volumes, and many articles; his latest book is Theory Does not Exist: Comparative Ancient and Modern Explorations in Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis and Rhetoric (2024).
Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Death Drive
Jeffrey R. Di Leo (University of Houston-Victoria, USA) and Paul Allen Miller (University of South Carolina, USA)
Part 1: Freud on the Death Drive-Philosophical Readings
1 Take it to the Limit: Ontology Beyond the Pleasure Principle
Paul Allen Miller (University of South Carolina, USA)
2 Baudrillard on the Death Drive
Jeffrey R. Di Leo (University of Houston-Victoria, USA)
3 Trauma and the Breakdown of All Grammars: Listening to the Wound as Voice
Maria del Rosario Acosta Lopez (University of California, Riverside, USA)
4 Death's Drive in Hegel and Freud
Shannon M. Mussett (Utah Valley University, USA)
5 Aristotle's Erotic Sublime?
Emanuela Bianchi (New York University, USA)
Part 2: Poetics of the Death Drive-Literary Connections
6 Moral Masochism, Sexuality, and the Death Drive: Freud and Late James
David Greven (University of South Carolina, USA)
7 Elegy, Queerness, and the Lacanian Death Drive
Sara Lindheim (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
8 Reading Beyond the Death-Drive: Living Phantasms
Daniel T. O'Hara (Temple University, USA)
9 Death - Automation - Language
Adriana Michele Campos Johnson (University of California, Irvine, USA)
10 Antigone's Gaza
Mario Telo(University of California, Berkeley,USA)
Part 3: Critique of the Death Drive-Theoretical Confrontations
11 The Queer Life of Auto-repugnancy in Freud
Penelope Deutscher (Northwestern University, USA)
12 Labor and Desire
Peter Hitchcock (The City University of New York, USA)
13 Derrida's Cruelty Drive
Brian O'Keeffe (Barnard College, Columbia University, USA)
14 Black Ressentiment and the Politics of the Death Drive: A Fanonian Meditation
Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College, USA)
15 Paraontology and the Death Drive
Nicole Simek (Whitman College, USA)
Notes on Contributors
Index
Introduction: The Death Drive
Jeffrey R. Di Leo (University of Houston-Victoria, USA) and Paul Allen Miller (University of South Carolina, USA)
Part 1: Freud on the Death Drive-Philosophical Readings
1 Take it to the Limit: Ontology Beyond the Pleasure Principle
Paul Allen Miller (University of South Carolina, USA)
2 Baudrillard on the Death Drive
Jeffrey R. Di Leo (University of Houston-Victoria, USA)
3 Trauma and the Breakdown of All Grammars: Listening to the Wound as Voice
Maria del Rosario Acosta Lopez (University of California, Riverside, USA)
4 Death's Drive in Hegel and Freud
Shannon M. Mussett (Utah Valley University, USA)
5 Aristotle's Erotic Sublime?
Emanuela Bianchi (New York University, USA)
Part 2: Poetics of the Death Drive-Literary Connections
6 Moral Masochism, Sexuality, and the Death Drive: Freud and Late James
David Greven (University of South Carolina, USA)
7 Elegy, Queerness, and the Lacanian Death Drive
Sara Lindheim (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
8 Reading Beyond the Death-Drive: Living Phantasms
Daniel T. O'Hara (Temple University, USA)
9 Death - Automation - Language
Adriana Michele Campos Johnson (University of California, Irvine, USA)
10 Antigone's Gaza
Mario Telo(University of California, Berkeley,USA)
Part 3: Critique of the Death Drive-Theoretical Confrontations
11 The Queer Life of Auto-repugnancy in Freud
Penelope Deutscher (Northwestern University, USA)
12 Labor and Desire
Peter Hitchcock (The City University of New York, USA)
13 Derrida's Cruelty Drive
Brian O'Keeffe (Barnard College, Columbia University, USA)
14 Black Ressentiment and the Politics of the Death Drive: A Fanonian Meditation
Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College, USA)
15 Paraontology and the Death Drive
Nicole Simek (Whitman College, USA)
Notes on Contributors
Index