Frances Restuccia's Melancholics in Love: Representing Women's Depression and Domestic Abuse addresses a timely topic of domestic violence and its representations in women's fiction, autobiography, and contemporary culture. By staging a critical negotiation between psychoanalytical theory, in particular Julia Kristeva's discussion of melancholia, and the cultural analysis of modern power inspired by Foucault's work, Restuccia develops her own original reading of the cultural and psychic dynamics of female melancholia, masochism, destructive jouissance, mother/daughter relations, domestic violence and resistance. Written with clarity, lucidity, and precision, Melancholics in Love presents an original contribution to literary studies, feminist theory, and the political implications of the psychoanalytic theories of female subjectivity.
Ewa Ziarek, University of Notre Dame A sophisticated, meticulous work.
Contemporary Literature
Frances Restuccia’s Melancholics in Love is a lucid and persuasive account of the psychic and social formation of abused women. Restuccia develops an original and engaging psychosocial theory of why melancholic women are more likely to fall in love with abusive men. Restuccia’s compelling prose, illuminating examples, and constant view toward real-life domestic abuse make this brilliant theoretical edifice come alive with meaning and compassion. Melancholics in Love weds the best of theory with the best of literary criticism, cultural studies, and applied psychoanalysis. This thought-provoking and powerful book opens a new door for theoretical analysis of domestic abuse.
Kelly Oliver, SUNY, Stony Brook