"One of the most exciting, provocative, and creative theoretical works in psychoanalysis and cultural studies today. Scott Wilson elaborates a wholly original idea, the treatment of 'joy' as an 'arche-concept' radically de-territorialized and freed from the orthodoxies of Lacanian jouissance or Barthesian pleasure, now able to 'hook up' with practically every relevant theorist who could have something to contribute to an analysis of global consumer capitalism. This is a unique work that raises central questions for media theory, political theory, literary and film studies, and psychoanalysis. It provides a compelling alternative to the hegemony of Zðizûek in cultural studies." — Diane Rubenstein, author of This Is Not a President: Sense, Nonsense, and the American Political Imaginary

"Wilson's insightful argument is buttressed not only by his deft treatment of theory taken from works by Deleuze, Foucault, Lacan, and others but also by a host of diverse and striking examples drawn from popular culture. References from the music of Iggy Pop, to the films Trainspotting, Memento, and Fight Club, to the phenomena of heroin addiction and anorexia, and to television programs such as The Office serve to sharpen his argument and illustrate it convincingly." — Leslie Anne Boldt-Irons, editor of On Bataille: Critical Essays

Preface

Part One  Introduction

1. The Structure of the Real

Part Two  Toward Anorganic Joy

2. Trainspotting with Deleuze

3. Exhausting Joy

Part Three  Joyful Immanence (There Is No Other)

4. Order of Intimacy

5. Return to Zero

Part Four  Event
6. Surprised by Joy

7. Joy’s Laughter

Part Five  a-Life

8. Becoming Barely Virtual

Notes
Bibliography
Index