“Smart People on ‘Cat People'” Thoughts on the Teresa de Lauretis Lecture –

De Lauretis’ 2008 book, Freud’s Drive: Psychoanalysis, Literature and Film, has done much to revive Freud’s contested theory of drives for contemporary scholars. Freud’s Drive is highly relevant to de Lauretis’ current research on figurality and the drive in film and literature and would be an excellent companion to last Friday’s lecture. Specifically, I would encourage those interested in a queer reading of Cat People (I believe this came up on Friday) to consider the chapter on “The Queer Space of the Drive.” It is here that de Lauretis explores the relationship between the drives, texts, and the body with particular emphasis on the contentious question of the location, or rather biologism, of the drive. While de Lauretis’ lecture did not explicitly engage with queer theory, the framework the author lays out in the book is ripe for contribution that I would be eager to read.

– Julia Huggins

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