Thank you Ms. Sheldon for such an interesting post!
I found the discussion of Lacan's idea of the "death drive" to be especially interesting. I find it interesting that it says that sexual identity is no identity at all. It has nothing to do with a persons true identity. Sexuality in fact "radically destabilizes the self and threatens to undo all the structures within which we try to make meaning of the world." Lacan says that the "death drive" directs us away from understanding our Symbolic and Imaginary and leads us towards sexual satisfaction in which we will lose all sense of these. He also says that through the sexual experience people experience "an orgasmic moment of blindness" called jouissance. In this brief moment, ones sense of self is completely shattered.
I think that the first section of Mantissa works against this idea. Fowles shows us that through Greens sexual experience he is gaining more and more of his identity. He begins to piece together bits of his identity, recognizing that the methodology being used is something he knows he would never have supported in his 'past' life. In fact through his orgasm, the moment of jouissance, he creates something. A book. His sense of self is not undone, it is confirmed. This goes against Lacan's idea that jouissance and identity can not coexist. It is through the jouissance that Green forms his identity. He is a writer, and this scene that has been playing is not reality, but a creative process.
15 years ago
2 comments:
Your post helped me a lot! I agree that Mantissa challenges the idea of jouissance. Through jouissance, Green is supposed to lose his sense of self, but he is actually able to find it. It is interesting that you suggest his book contributes to his sense of self. It is not uncovered memories that help him discover himself; it is the creation of something new. Thanks!
Although at first I felt as though Mantissa was confirming the ideas of Lacan in relationship to the death drive, your post has provided me with a new perspective. I agree that although the nurse and doctor seem to be attempting to distract Miles from uncovering his true identity, throughout the entire "treatment" he never actually loses himself in the moment of jouissance, rather he constantly questions why he is in this particular position and it seems as though the longer the "treatment" continues the more Miles seems to find himself as opposed to drifting further away. Thanks for your perspective!
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