File spoon-archives/french-feminism.archive/french-feminism_1996/96-06-15.140, message 19


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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