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Date
2019-03-??
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英語學系
Department of English, NTNU
Department of English, NTNU
Abstract
Situated at the intersection of Lacan, Badiou, and Joyce, this essay interpretsJoyce’s modern version of “Penelope” as a sinthomatic writing, finding thisfemale countersign to be problematic by way of an ethical evaluation of thesinthome as a (singularized) sexual relation and an investigation of Joyce’sbelief in his sinthome. Firstly, I fully acknowledge the merit of sinthomaticeroticism as a repairment of the non- existence of sexual relation in its capacityof maintaining the recognition of the non-existence of the Other and ofauthoring and forging one’s own sexual rapport through the self-inventedsavoir-faire of one’s jouissance. Molly as Bloom’s sinthome-partner isindispensable in offering her participation in the construction of(inter)sinthomatic eroticism. However, upon closer scrutiny, the merits of thisversion of eroticism appear quite limited, for Joyce’s conservative presentationstays near to the cultural symptoms of his time, and, moreover, Joyce’s beliefin his sinthome functions similarly with normal neurotics’ symptoms and lackstruly intersubjective reciprocity. Secondly, my ethical reading takes account ofthe productive tension between “sinthomatic eroticism” and love. I invoke bothLacan’s idea of love as “compensation” of the non-existence of sexualrelationship, and (beyond Lacan) Badiou’s work on love as a way of creativelycarving out what I term “the ethical space of love” as a space (not entirelydisengaged from but) distinct from the psychoanalytic domain of sexual desiresor eros. By doing so, I explore the relatively uncharted ground of thetheorization of true love.