Keith Reader, The Abject Object - Avatars of the Phallus in Contemporary French Theory, Literature and Film

Amsterdam/New York, NY 2006. 225 pp. (Chiasma 17)
ISBN: 90-420-1729-5 Euro 45,- / US $56.-

This book addresses representations and constructions of masculinity in crisis in contemporary French culture by way of two important concepts – the phallus (largely but not solely in (a) Lacanian sense(s)) and abjection (Kristeva). Scrutiny of these concepts informs readings of a number of texts – literary (Bataille, Adamov, Doubrovsky, Houellebecq, Rochefort, Angot) and cinematic (Ferreri, Eustache, Godard, Noé, Bonello) – in which the abject phallus is a significant factor. The texts chosen all describe or stage crises of masculinity and mastery in ways that suggest that these supposedly beneficent qualities – and the phallus that symbolizes them – can often be perceived as burdensome or even detestable. Abjection is a widely-used concept in contemporary cultural studies, but has not hitherto been articulated with the phallus as emblem of male dominance as it is here. The volume will be of interest to those working in the areas of French, gender and film studies.

The author is Professor of Modern French Studies at the University of Glasgow and has published extensively in the areas of French culture, film and intellectual history. His most recent books are monographs on Régis Debray and Robert Bresson. He is coeditor, with Alex Hughes, of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture, of which a second edition is currently in preparation.
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