life, death & poetry

Death-Drive: Freudian Hauntings in Literature and Art (Edinburgh University Press, 2010) is published in the Frontiers of Theory series.

The book argues for a new theory of aesthetics based on Freud’s work on death.

‘This is a rich and fascinating work. Smith provides a lucid, probing and astute overview of the death drive in Freud, but also leads the reader into strange and compelling new terrain, exploring the notion that works of art have 'an unconscious of their own'. This is an important new contribution to a topic that remains controversial in psychoanalysis and culture more generally.’

Professor Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex

‘The death-drive has haunted psychoanalytic theory since its first appearance in Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Rowland Smith brings new life to this grim hypothesis, tracing the rhetorical adventures of the death-drive through Freud's works and those of his defenders and adversaries. Sinuously argued and vividly expressed, Death-Drive will appeal both to beginners and to seasoned readers of psychoanalysis and literature. Rarely has death been discussed with such vitality.’

Maud Ellmann, Donald and Marilyn Keough Professor of Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame

Derrida and Autobiography (Cambridge University Press, 1995) examines Derrida’s innovative concept of the ‘autobiography of the writing’. Choice’s outstanding academic book of 1996.

‘An extremely rigorous and well-written study.’

Professor Henry Sussman, Yale University

‘Superb - a book of generosity and rigour. An immense success.’

Jacques Derrida

‘Fine insights and astute readings of Derrida’s work.’

Professor Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex

‘Smith’s spirited, allusive and inventive survey of Jacques Derrida’s work moves with swift deliberation and focus through Derrida’s extensive oeuvre.’

Ned Lukacher, University of Illinois at Chicago

On Modern Poetry: from Theory to Total Criticism will be published by Continuum in July 2012.

Through readings of texts from Keats to Prynne, and an investigation of themes such as ‘voice’, rhetoric and tradition, the book takes a first step towards a ‘total criticism’.

Robert’s three academic works below. See here for poetry of his own.

'On Modern Poetry dazzles and illuminates, as does poetry itself. The book is an exciting intervention in poetic criticism, and the zest with which the book apprehends as well as comprehends its material will ensure that all kinds of readers interested in poetry will be enthused to think more carefully about its idioms, strange logics, and its genres. In bringing together intuitive and intellectual attention without simply pre-empting the distinction or its affects, the book achieves what it sets out to do.'

Dr Anthony Mellors, Reader in Poetry and Poetics, Birmingham City University, UK

‘Smith's writing moves with an ease and elegance that can belie the, sometimes breath-taking, flair, reach and focus of his readings… it has much to recommend it to a wide audience, from general readers, to students, to specialists.’

Dr Clare Connors, University of East Anglia, UK