What is perversion? How does it emerge within contemporary thought, politics and culture? To what extent might it be possible to speak of a politics, aesthetics or even ontology of perversion? This book examines the philosophical and political relevance of perversion in the works of three key representatives of contemporary philosophy and psychoanalysis: Gilles Deleuze, Giorgio Agamben and Jacques Lacan. Perversion is often understood simply in terms of cultural or sexual phenomena. By contrast, Bostjan Nedoh places perversion at the heart of philosophical and political issues in the works Deleuze, Agamben and Lacan. It examines the relevance of their discussions of perversion for their respective philosophical projects (Deleuze, Agamben) or for the critique of philosophy (Lacan). By tracing the differences between these thinkers' understanding of perversion, the book finally draws lines of delimitation between the vitalist and the structuralist or psychoanalytic philosophical positions in contemporary philosophy.

A reconfiguration of the reception of Deleuze and Lacan in contemporary Continental philosophyIt is often said that Lacan is the most radical representative of structuralism, a thinker of negativity and alienation, whereas Deleuze is pictured as a great opponent of the structuralist project, a vitalist and a thinker of creative potentialities of desire. It seems the two cannot be further apart. This volume of 12 new essays, breaks the myth of their foreignness (if not hostility) and places the two in a productive conversation. By taking on topics such as baroque, perversion, death drive, ontology/topology, face, linguistics and formalism the essays highlight key entry points for a discussion between Lacan's and Deleuze's respective thoughts. The proposed lines of investigation do not argue for a simple equation of their thoughts, but for a 'disjunctive synthesis', which acknowledges their differences, while insisting on their positive and mutually informed reading.ContributorsLorenzo Chiesa, European University at St Petersburg and the Freud Museum in St Petersburg, Russia. Guillaume Collett, University of Kent, UK.Adrian Johnston, University of New Mexico and Emory Psychoanalytic Institute in Atlanta, USA. Peter Klepec, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia. Paul M. Livingston, University of New Mexico, USA. Bostjan Nedoh, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia. Laurent de Sutter, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Samo Tomsic, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. Tadej Troha, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia.Scott Wilson, Kingston University, UK. Andreja Zevnik, University of Manchester, UK. Alenka Zupancic, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia and European Graduate School, Switzerland.

It is often said that Lacan is the most radical representative of structuralism, a thinker of negativity and alienation, whereas Deleuze is pictured as a great opponent of the structuralist project, a vitalist and a thinker of creative potentialities of desire. It seems the two cannot be further apart. This volume of 12 new essays breaks the myth of their foreignness (if not hostility) and places the two in a productive conversation. By taking on topics such as baroque, perversion, death drive, ontology/topology, face, linguistics and formalism the essays highlight key entry points for a discussion between Lacan's and Deleuze's respective thoughts. The proposed lines of investigation do not argue for a simple equation of their thoughts, but for a 'disjunctive synthesis', which acknowledges their differences, while insisting on their positive and mutually informed reading.