Leo Bersani

For the past 60 years Leo Bersani has inspired resisted guided and challenged scholarly work in the fields of literary criticism queer theory cultural studies psychoanalytic theory and film and visual studies. Moving across an impressive range of sources Mikko Tuhkanen seeks out the fundamental notes-the questions that we find and refind-in Bersani''s extensive oeuvre across the decades.The chapters explore Bersani''s engagement with psychoanalytic theory (Freud Laplanche Klein Lacan) French and American modernist fiction (Proust Baudelaire Mallarm James Beckett) poststructuralist theory (Derrida Foucault Deleuze Guattari Blanchot) queer theory (Butler Edelman) and the visual arts (Caravaggio Almodvar Pasolini Malick Dumont). This first introduction to Bersani''s work provides a chronological overview of his thought and details his contributions to literary studies and critical theory.