The Feminine "No": Psychoanalysis and the New Canon

163 Pages·2000·4.545 MB·English

by  Todd Mcgowan

TheF emin"iNnoe! "
SUNY series in Psychoanalysis and Culture
Henry Sussman, editor
The Feminine “N o!”
Psychoanalysis and the
New Canon
Todd McGowan
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2001 State University of New York
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McGowan, Todd
The feminine “no!” : psychoanalysis and the new canon / Todd McGowan.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in psychoanalysis and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-4873-8 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7914-4874-6 (pbk.)
1. American fiction—History and criticism. 2. Psychological fiction, American—History
and criticism. 3. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860–1935. Yellow wall-paper. 4. Chopin,
Kate, 1851–1904. Awakening. 5. Chesnutt, Charles Waddell, 1858–1932. Marrow of
tradition. 6. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their eyes were watching God. 7. Psychoanalysis and
literature—United States—History. 8. Feminism and literature—United States—History. 9.
Canon (Literature). I. Title. II. Series.
PS374.P7 M37 2001
813.009'01'9—dc21 00-030079
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Mac Davis,
whose work made this possible

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Canon Wars and Psychoanalysis xi
1 The Canonical Unconscious 1
2 Dispossessing the Self: “The Yellow Wall-paper”
and the Renunciation of Property 31
3 The Awakening of Desire, or, Why Edna
Pontellier Isn’t a Man 47
4 Acting without the Father: Charles Chesnutt’s
New Aristocrat 69
5 Liberation and Domination: Their Eyes Were
Watching God and the Evolution of Capitalism 85
6 Agency and the Traumatic Encounter:
Politics after Poststructuralism 101
Notes 109
Index 141
vii

Acknowledgments
An earlier version of chapter 4, “Acting without the Father: Charles
Chesnutt’s New Aristocrat,” appeared in American Literary Realism, 1870–
1910 30.1 (Fall 1997): 59–74, and an earlier version of chapter 5,
“Liberation and Domination: Their Eyes Were Watching God and the
Evolution of Capitalism,” appeared in MELUS 24.1 (Fall 1999).
I would like to thank those who helped this project along in its early
stages, including George Hartley and the PLH, particularly Eleni
Mavromatidou, Nathan Moore, and Ken Petri.
Thanks to Phil Foster, James Peltz, and Kristin Milavec, who helped
the project through its later stages.
Thanks to Debra Moddelmog for her conscientious readings, and
her continuing friendly counsel.
Thanks to Theresia de Vroom and Deborah Landeau for their many
contributions, their being-toward-death, and their irony.
Finally, I owe the greatest debt to the three people without whom
something could not have emerged out of nothing: Mac Davis, Paul
Eisenstein, and Hilary Neroni.
ix