The Body in Theory

<p> The body has always had the potential to unsettle us with its strange exigencies and suppurations its demands and desires and thus throughout the ages it has continued to be a subject of interest and obsession. This collection of twelve peer-reviewed essays on Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault interrogates the body in all of its beauty...and with all of its blights and blemishes. </p><p> Written by a diverse body of scholars--art historians cultural theorists English professors philosophers psychoanalysts and sociologists from North America and Europe--these essays bring into conversation two intellectual giants frequently seen as antagonists and thus rarely seen together. Topics covered include: the intersections of Foucault and Lacan and how they bring to light new thoughts on the senses the self-destructive body ableism and disability in Guillermo del Toro's film <I>The Shape of Water</I> body image and the ego selfie-culture and metamorphosis in Ottessa Moshfegh's novel <I>My Year of Rest and Relaxation</I> among others.</p>