by Rudi Loontiens | Vol 21 (1) 2003
This article deals with the case-study of a psychotic subject in which jouissance and the fragmented body play a dominant role. The jouissance of an abusive mother is inscribed on the body of this subject, a subject who is compelled to mutilate his or her body in order to ensure its unity and as such to make it his or her own. It is the same mother with her same jouissance, that appears in the Real to this subject. Through discussion of elementary phenomena – which, within the Lacanian structure of psychosis, can be divided into two categories: one the symbolic, as that which is signified by the Name-of-the-Father (P°) and consequently one which concerns the body and the jouissance (?°) of the Other signified by the phallus – it is argued that this case is situated beyond the two sexes by negating sexuality as a non-sexed being.
by François Levrau | Vol 21 (3/4) 2003
The Czech author Milan Kundera, one of the most famous contemporary “literary analysts”, is recognized as a master story-teller of the relationship between men and women. In this article, Kundera’s perspective is compared with the Lacanian statement that “there is no such thing as a sexual relation”. In a critical way, some of Kundera’s protagonists (Tomas, Klíma, Martin and Havel) are confronted with the Freudo-Lacanian interpretation of the Don Juan character. Through a short historical review, the author examines how Don Juan has evolved through the centuries from vulgar libertine to romantic hero. Kundera’s characters are situated within this evolutionary continuum. Both from a phenomenological and a structural viewpoint, a clear distinction is made between the characters of Don Juan and Casanova. The question is whether Kundera’s characters are Don Juans or Casanovas.
by Julien Quackelbeen | Vol 21 (3/4) 2003
Referring to the evolution of the psychoanalytic conception of trauma the author considers, based on clinical fragments, three questions with which we are confronted in the clinic of trauma. The first fragment about a trauma of incest, which was initially dealt with within the family in a sensitive and appropriate manner, raises the question of the impact of speech on trauma where it concerns laypeople. It can be argued that the consequences of this kind of speech can be equally as disastrous as those of stubborn silence or a prohibition to speak. Using a second fragment attention is drawn to the role of the phantasma. A third fragment illustrates the trans-generational transmission of a trauma. Some considerations concerning the traumatic neuroses and the trauma of birth conclude this paper.
by Katrien Steenhoudt | Vol 24 (3/4) 2006
In psychoanalysis, the function of construction consists in mapping the unheard of the unconscious logic. In this way, speaking (la parole), or the subjective position and thus the desire of the patient, acquire room to move. It is from the dialectic between the unconscious and the conscious discourses that the absurd can be elaborated. This castration happens through a construction which, in turn, provokes the creativity of the subject. This mechanism is illustrated with a clinical case.
by Abe Geldhof | Vol 28 (1/2) 2010
The evolution of Lacan’s theory of the body in psychosis is presented, starting from his seminar on the sinthome. Some points of rupture can be found retrospectively in Lacan’s theory. From his first conceptualization of the imaginary body, then of the symbolic body and finally of the real body, Lacan comes to the conclusion that the imaginary, the symbolic and the real must be knotted. Lacan’s latest teaching offers novel perspectives on the difficult relation between body, language and jouissance for every speaking being. This is illustrated by means of three short case studies about James Joyce, Antonin Artaud and Michel H.
