Date: Sun, 19 Nov 1995 09:31:46 -0600 (CST) From: n7sdn-AT-ttacs.ttu.edu Subject: Re: jouissance Dear Nick, In Lacan's Chapter VI ("Dieu et la jouissance de la femme" [with "la" crossed out] of _Seminaire XX. Encore_ (Paris: Seuil, 1975), there is a (disturbing) discussion of this topic. Portions of this chapter has been translated into English and appears in Juliet Mitchell and Jacqueline Rose's _Jacques Lacan and the Ecole freudienne_ (this is not the complete title--sorry those notes are in my office! but you can find this on Firstsearch, for example). In this chapter, Lacan continues Freud's discussion of Woman (as incomplete being based on Man). He also speaks of feminine sexual response and its relationship to mysticism. In a very provocative paragraph at the end of the chapter, he evokes the image of Bernini's St. Theresa statue and says (my translation): "you only have to go to Rome to look at Bernini's statue in order to understand right away that she is coming, there is no doubt about it. And from what is she coming? It is clear that the essential testimony of the mystics is precisely to say that they feel it, but that they don't know anything about it." In the Rose and Mitchell book there is also a short note at the beginning of this section which explains what "jouissance" means to Lacan. In French, it comes from the verb "jouir" which means to "enjoy great pleasure" as well as "to come" (Lacan uses the verb "jouir" in the passage I quoted above). In _Speculum_, Irigaray seems to be speaking directly to this passage in a chapter entitled "La Mysterique." As in other writings, her veiled allusions are powerful. Here, I see allusions to Lacan through her use of the word "encore" (referring to Seminaire XX itself) and "Dieu" (which she places between quotation marks and which refers to Chapter VI. A few more notes: Toril Moi speaks about "jouissance" in relation to Helene Cixous and Barthes in _Sexual/Textual Politics_ (London: Routledge, 1985) pp. 118, 120-1; to Irigaray p. 143 (Moi also discusses hysteria and mysticism in her chapter on Irigaray); to Kristeva and Lacan pp. 167-8. Hope this helps. Sincerely, Sharon Nell ************************************************ Sharon Diane Nell Asst. Professor, French Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409-2071 Ph: 806/742-3237 Fax: 806-742-3306 Internet: n7sdn-AT-ttacs.ttu.edu ************************************************ On Sun, 19 Nov 1995, Nick Zukin wrote: > Sorry if I am interupting any discussions out there, but my wife and I are > each doing papers where we could use some more information about the word > jouissance. I am re-reading Drucilla Cornell's book Beyond Accomodation > currently, and am also going back through Speculum of the Other Woman, > which is the most originary point I can find for this word in gender > studies. I was wondering if anyone can tell me more about the word (I > don't speak French), and where the word was first popularized for gender > studies, eg, was it Lacan, and if so, where? > > Nick > zukinx-AT-cougarnet.byu.edu > > >
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