Session of Seminar XI The partial drive & its circuit : 13th May 1964 : Jacques Lacan

Index of post

Availability in English

Availability in French

Information on Session 13th May 1964 & its Mathemes

A quotable quote in these notes – see below

Jaques-Alain Miller’s Chapter titles

Jacques Lacan’s references

Citations

NOTE Translations for the German terms Lacan uses.

Publication and availability

Available p174-186 of Seminar XI, translated by Alan Sheridan, edited by Jaques-Alain Miller, The Hogarth Press 1977, from www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /texts by request.

Information on Seminar XI The Four Fundamental Concepts (1963-1964) : from 15^th January 1964 : Jacques Lacan see this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19640115 or Index of Jacques Lacan’s texts)

Published in French, edited by Jacques-Alain Miller, Le séminaire de Jacques Lacan, Livre XI, Les quatre concepts fondamentaux de la psycahanlyse’, Éditions du Seuil, 1973

Published unedited, from transcriptions of tape recordings, at http://staferla.free.fr /Séminaire 11 : Fondements

Published as an image of the stenographer’s typed manuscript,

École lacanienne de psychanalyse – E. L. P. – (http://ecole-lacanienne.net ) / Lacan-Bibliothèque

/at http://ecole-lacanienne.net/bibliolacan/stenotypies-version-j-l-et-non-j-l/

And here https://ecole-lacanienne.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1964.05.13.pdf

Information on Session 13th May 1964 & its Mathemes

See https://www.lutecium.org/mathemes/node358.html for Seminar XI

https://www.lutecium.org/mathemes/node372.html for 13th May 1964

Mathemes

Jacques Lacan’s Mathemes

Here is the computer version of a Mathematics Thesaurus taken from written texts and from Dr. Lacan. It covers all the texts written by Lacan and all the seminars he held in 1953 at 1979. Accompanying this thesaurus, there is a search tool allowing to visualize the citations comprising one or more mathemes, these appearing in chronological order.

A Mathematics Thesaurus for 13th May 1964

– translated via the internet and reproduced without the links given on the site

11.14 Quand je lis ma dernière …, 13 mai 1964

11.14 When I read my last …, 13 May 1964

Elements established from the texts [Lac14, Lac64, 13 May 64] and the audio recording.

Transference is what manifests the actualisation of the reality of the unconscious insofar as it is sexuality.

The Real-Ich is the central nervous system designed to ensure a certain homeostasis.

In view of the biological purpose of sexuality, reproduction, drives, in the process of psychic reality, are partial.

The drive is the montage through which sexuality participates in psychic life.

The unconscious has a gaping structure.

The apparatus, which is the drive, conforms to the gaping structure of the unconscious.

The primordial repressed is a signifier.

The symptom consists of a scaffolding of signifiers.

The repressed and the symptom are homogeneous.

The repressed can be reduced to signifying functions.

The symptom can be reduced to signifying functions.

The structure of the symptom, like that of the repressed, can be inscribed in synchronic terms.

The analytical experience has two extremes; on one side there is interpretation, and on the other there is the symptom and the repressed.

Interpretation concerns metonymy.

Interpretation points to desire.

Interpretation is identical to desire.

Desire is interpretation itself.

The sole aim of the partial drive is its return to the circuit.

The object a is a lost object.

The object a is not the origin of the oral drive.

No food will ever satisfy the oral drive.

* The transition from the oral drive to the anal drive does not occur through a process of maturation.

The transition from the oral drive to the anal drive occurs through the intervention, the reversal, of the demand of the Other.

The unconscious is located in the gaps that the distribution of signifying investments establishes in the subject.

The gaps established in the subject are represented by a diamond shape, the punch marked <>.

The diamond is at the heart of every relationship of the unconscious, between reality and the subject.

* The gaze is that object lost and suddenly found again, in the conflagration of shame, through the introduction of the other.

What the voyeuristic subject seeks to see is the object, as absence.

* Sadism is merely the denial of masochism.

* The neutral real is the desexualised real.

The function of love has a fundamentally narcissistic structure.

Drives are partial in relation to the biological purpose of sexuality.

The path of the drive is circular.

It is only when the subject appears at the level of the other that the function of the drive can be realised.

* There is no natural metamorphosis from the oral drive to the anal drive.

A quotable quotes in these notes – see below

(‘It’s a pity I can’t kiss myself’, he seems to be saying.)

Essay II Infantile Sexuality SE VII p182 , See Essay II Infantile Sexuality : 1905 : Sigmund Freud, this site /3 Sigmund Freud (19050101 B) or Index of Sigmund Freud’s texts)

Jaques-Alain Miller’s Chapter titles

Seminar XI : 13^th May 1964 :

The partial drive and its circuit : Chapter 14 : p174-186 of Alan Sheridan’s translation

Sub-headings:

Die ganze Sexualstrebung -Every drive is partial -Drive, sex and death -The supposed stages -Schaulust-Sado-masochism

Fragment 48 by Heraclitus is given in the original Greek. A translation from the internet, (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fragments_of_Heraclitus#Fragment_48 )

(66) The bow (βιός) is called life (βίος) but its work is death. R. P. 49 a.

Jacques Lacan’s comment

p177 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, 13^th May 1964, Today I have copied out on the blackboard a fragment of Heraclitus, which I found in the monumental work in which Diels has gathered together for us the scattered remains of the pre-Socratic period. To the bow (βιός), he writes, and this emerges for us as one of his lessons in wisdom which, before all the circuit of scientific elaboration, went straight to the target, to the bow is given the name of life (βίος, the accent being this time on the first syllable) and its work is death.

Jacques Lacan’s references

***

-p174 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, quote :

When I read in the Psychoanalytic Quarterly an article like the one by Mr Edward Glover, entitled Freudian or Neo-Freudian, directed entirely against the constructions of Mr Alexander, I sense a sordid smell of stuffiness, at the sight of a construction like that of Mr Alexander being counter-attacked in the name of obsolete criteria. Good Heavens, I did not hesitate to attack it myself in the most categorical way fourteen years ago, at the 1950 Congress of Psychiatry, but, it is the construction of a man of great talent and when I see at what level this construction is discussed, I can pay myself the complement that through all the misadventures that my discourse encounters, here and certainly elsewhere, one can say that this discourse provides an obstacle to the experience of analysis being served up to you in a completely cretinous way.

At this point, I will resume my discourse …

See

Freudian or Neofreudian? : 1964 : Edward Glover , see this site /5 Authors A-Z (Glover or Index of Authors’ texts)

OR

Some recent trends in psychoanalytic theory : 1961 : Edward Glover, see this site /5 Authors A-Z (Glover or Index of Authors’ texts) covers some of the same ground.

Edward Glover cites : The Scope of Psychoanalysis, 1921-1961: Selected Papers, by Franz Alexander. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1961

The evolution and present trends of psychoanalysis : September 1950 : Franz Alexander, see this site /5 Authors A-Z (Alexander)

P5 of Elsa Koc’s translation : Intervention to the first World Congress of Psychiatry (Sorbonne, Paris) : 26^th September 1950 : Jacques Lacan at this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19500926)

***

-P176 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, quote, In Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud was able to posit sexuality as essentially polymorphous (see below), aberrant (See Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII P157-quote below).

See Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality : 1905 d : Sigmund Freud, on this site /3 Sigmund Freud (19050101 or Index of Sigmund Freud’s texts)

SE VII p191, Essay II. Infantile Sexuality

Polymorphously Perverse Disposition

It is an instructive fact that under the influence of seduction children can become polymorphously perverse, and can be led into all possible kinds of sexual irregularities. This shows that an aptitude for them is innately present in their disposition. There is consequently little resistance towards carrying them out, since the mental dams against sexual excesses – shame, disgust and morality – have either not yet been constructed at all or are only in course of construction, according to the age of the child. In this respect children behave in the same kind of way as an average uncultivated woman in whom the same polymorphously perverse disposition persists. Under ordinary conditions she may remain normal sexually, but if she is led on by a clever seducer she will find every sort of perversion to her taste, and will retain them as part of her own sexual activities. Prostitutes exploit the same polymorphous, that is, infantile, disposition for the purposes of their profession; and, considering the immense number of women who are prostitutes or who must be supposed to have an aptitude for prostitution without becoming engaged in it, it becomes impossible not to recognize that this same disposition to perversions of every kind is a general and fundamental human characteristic.

___

Polymorphous perversion &

Sigmund Freud’s phrase ‘It was thus possible to say that neurosis is, as it were, the negative of perversion.’* &

aberrant (p176 Alan Sheridan’s translation) &

goal/aim

p155 of pfl: Volume 7, On Sexuality: Three essays on the theory of sexuality: 1905 : Sigmund Freud or SE VII p231

Summary (Essay III)

The time has arrived for me to attempt to summarize what I have said. We started out from the aberrations of the sexual instinct in respect of its object and of its aim and we were faced by the question of whether these arise from an innate disposition or are acquired as a result of experiences in life. We arrived at an answer to this question from an understanding, derived from psycho-analytic investigation, of the workings of the sexual instinct in psychoneurotics, a numerous class of people and one not far removed from the healthy. We found that in them tendencies to every kind of perversion can be shown to exist as unconscious forces and betray their presence as factors leading to the formation of symptoms. It was thus possible to say that neurosis is, as it were, the negative of perversion. In view of what was now seen to be the wide dissemination of tendencies to perversion we were driven to the conclusion that a disposition to perversions is an original and universal disposition of the human sexual instinct and that normal sexual behaviour is developed out of it as a result of organic changes and psychical inhibitions occurring in the course of maturation; we hoped to be able to show the presence of this original disposition in childhood.

Freud, Es ist an der Zeit, eine Zusammenfassung zu versuchen. Wir sind von den Abirrungen des Geschlechtstriebes in bezug auf sein Objekt und sein Ziel ausgegangen, haben die Fragestellung vorgefunden, ob diese aus angeborener Anlage entspringen oder infolge der Einflüsse des Lebens erworben werden. Die Beantwortung dieser Frage ergab sich uns aus der Einsicht in die Verhältnisse des Geschlechtstriebes bei den Psychoneurotikern, einer zahlreichen und den Gesunden nicht fernestehenden Menschengruppe, welche Einsicht wir durch psychoanalytische Untersuchung gewonnen hatten. Wir fanden so, daß bei diesen Personen die Neigungen zu allen Perversionen als unbewußte Mächte nachweisbar sind und sich als Symptombildner verraten, und konnten sagen, die Neurose sei gleichsam ein Negativ der Perversion. Angesichts der nun erkannten großen Verbreitung der Perversionsneigungen drängte sich uns der Gesichtspunkt auf, daß die Anlage zu den Perversionen die ursprüngliche allgemeine Anlage des menschlichen Geschlechtstriebes sei, aus Welcher das normale Sexualverhalten infolge organischer Veränderungen und psychischer Hemmungen im Laufe der Reifung entwickelt werde. Die ursprüngliche Anlage hofften wir im Kindesalter aufzeigen zu können; unter den die Richtung des Sexualtriebes einschränkenden Mächten hoben wir Scham, Ekel, Mitleid und die sozialen Konstruktionen der Moral und Autorität hervor. So mußten wir in jeder fixierten Abirrung vom normalen Geschlechtsleben ein Stück Entwicklungshemmung und Infantilismus erblicken.

An internet translation, It is time to attempt a summary. We have begun with the aberrations of the sexual drive with regard to its object and its goal, and have encountered the question of whether these arise from an innate predisposition or are acquired as a result of life’s influences. The answer to this question emerged from our insight into the conditions of the sexual drive in psychoneurotics, a numerous group of people not far removed from healthy individuals, an insight we had gained through psychoanalytic research. We thus found that in these individuals, the tendencies toward all perversions are demonstrable as unconscious forces and reveal themselves as symptom-formers, and were able to say that neurosis is, as it were, a negative of perversion. In view of the now recognised widespread prevalence of perverted tendencies, the viewpoint forced itself upon us that the predisposition toward perversions is the original, general predisposition of the human sexual drive, from which normal sexual behaviour develops as a result of organic changes and psychic inhibitions in the course of maturation. We hoped to reveal the original predisposition in childhood; among the forces limiting the direction of the sexual drive, we highlighted shame, disgust, pity, and the social constructions of morality and authority. Thus, we had to see in every fixed deviation from normal sexual life a measure of developmental inhibition and infantilism.

* Jacques Lacan refers to this phrase in

**

Session of Seminar IV : 16th January 1957 : Jacques Lacan,

see this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19570116 or 19561121)

P2 of EC Translation Group, But in translating Freud’s claim that perversion is the negative of neurosis[5] in a classical way, they want to make perversion purely and simply into something wherein the drive has not developed.

[5] Lacan misquotes Freud here. In his study, Freud writes “Psychoneuroses are, so to speak, the negative of perversions.” SE VII p50. See Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteria (‘Dora’) : 1901 [1905] : Sigmund Freud, this site /3 Sigmund Freud (19010101). Further references to this statement are given in Strachey’s introduction in the same volume.

P3 of EC Translation Group, Ultimately, we should not be under the impression that, within the development of analytic theory, Freud decided to try to give us a notion of this which he elaborated on. I would go further. In Freud himself, we have an example which proves that, surely, when he says that ‘perversion is the negative of neurosis’, this is not a formulation to be taken in the way we have always taken it – that is, as simply meaning that whatever is hidden in the unconscious when we are in the presence of a neurotic case is there for all to see in perversion, and in some sense, is free. He is actually proposing something else to us. Perhaps, after all, it should be taken as having been proffered as one of these dense formulas in which our analysis might find its true meaning. And it is in trying to follow it, and seeing for example how he conceives the mechanism of a phenomenon we could call perverse – categorically perverse, even – that we may ultimately realise what he means when he says that perversion is the negative of neurosis. If we examine things a little more closely, if we took this study, which should be famous, “A contribution to the study of the origin of sexual perversions”,[6] we would notice that Freud’s attentiveness here is characteristic, and it is no less characteristic that he chooses this as the title. He insists on it in the text – it is something which is not merely a label, but a phrase taken directly from the testimonies of patients, when they start talking about their fantasies, which are basically sadomasochistic fantasies, regardless of what role or function they may take on in any particular case.

[6] ‘A child is being beaten’ a contribution to the study of the origin of sexual perversions : 1919 : Sigmund Freud, see this site /3 Sigmund Freud (19190101 or Index of Sigmund Freud’s texts

P8 of EC Translation Group, … of perversion as being the ‘negative of neurosis’, simply for the reason that [it would make] perversion a drive that is not elaborated by the oedipal and neurotic mechanism, but instead the pure and simple survival, persistence, of an irreducible partial drive.

**

23rd January 1957

See Session of Seminar IV Dora & the Young Homosexual Woman : 23rd January 1957 : Jacques Lacan, on this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19570123 or 19561121)

P4 of EC Translation Group, One might say these two cases balance each other admirably. They are strictly interwoven, the one with the other, but not only insofar as there is produced, in one case, in one direction, this conflation of the symbolic position with imaginary position, and in the other case, a conflation in the opposite direction. We could say that in their sum constellation, these two cases strictly correspond with one another, except that the one is organised in relation to the other in the form of the positive to the negative. I could say that there is no better illustration of Freud’s formulation that “perversion is the negative of neurosis”.

___

Polymorphous perversion

iii) P159 of pfl: Summary: op. cit. or SE VII p234

It was not possible to say what amount of sexual activity can occur in childhood without being described as abnormal or detrimental to further development.

___

Polymorphous perversion

iv) P163-164 of pfl: Summary: op.cit.: Section name ‘Sublimation part 3’ or SE VII p239,

What we describe as a person’s ‘character’ is built up to a considerable extent from the material of sexual excitations and is composed of instincts that have been fixed since childhood, of constructions achieved by means of sublimation, and of other constructions, employed for effectively holding in check perverse impulses which have been recognized as being unutilizable. The multifariously perverse sexual disposition of childhood can accordingly be regarded as the source of a number of our virtues, in so far as through reaction-formation it stimulates their development.

___

-Reference missing: The following is probably a footnote by Sigmund Freud, written after Three Essays (1905) and I have been unable to find its exact location (not in Three Essays) :

‘It will be enough here to refer to my Three Essays (1905d), in which I have attempted to throw some light – if only a feeble one – on the somatic processes in which the essential nature of sexuality is to be looked for. I have there shown that the constitutional sexual disposition of children is incomparably more variegated than might have been expected, that it deserves to be described as ‘polymorphously perverse’ and that what is spoken of as the normal behaviour of the sexual function emerges from this disposition after certain of its components have been repressed.’

***

Summary: Children’s enjoyment is organised genitally. This is enjoyment outside the pleasure principle.

See also Reading Group notes for p1 – 7 of 18^th November 1959, Seminar VII, (Wo es War, … & perverse jouissance) : 15^th September 2012 : Julia Evans, see this site /5 Authors A-Z (Evans or Index of Julia Evans’ texts)

Further comments on ‘perverse jouissance’, Seminar VII 18^th November 1959 : 22^nd October 2012 : Julia Evans. see this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19591118 or Index of Jacques Lacan’s texts)

***

Page 182 – reference Otto Fenichel

Lacan, P182 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, We must read Freud’s text very attentively here. The value of Freud’s texts on this matter, in which he is breaking new ground, is that like a good archaeologist, he leaves the work of the dig in place—so that, even if it is incomplete, we are able to discover what the excavated objects mean. When Mr Fenichel passes by the same ground, he does as one used to do, he gathers everything up, puts it in his pockets and in glass cases, without any kind of order, or at least in a completely arbitrary order, so that nothing can be found again.

– The object, here, is the gaze—the gaze that is the subject, which attains it, which hits the bull’s eye in target-shooting. I have only to remind you what I said of Sartre’s analysis. [Note, this is given on p84 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, Session of Seminar XI Anamorphosis : 26th February 1964, see near end of post for the quote]

Possible references

The Psychology of Transvestism : 31^st July 1929 (Oxford) : Otto Fenichel, See this site /5 Authors A-Z (Fenichel or Index of Authors’ texts)

The Symbolic Equation – Girl = Phallus : 1936 : Otto Fenichel. See this site /5 Authors A-Z (Fenichel)

***

Lacan, Page 185 of Alan Sheridan’s translation,

I will ask you to look at my article Kant avec Sade*, where you will see that the sadist himself occupies the place of the object, but without knowing it, to the benefit of another, for whose jouissance he exercises his action as sadistic pervert.

*

See Kant with Sade : April 1963 : Jacques Lacan. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19630401) or https://web.archive.org/web/20210120103755/http://www.lacanianworks.net/?p=236

***

Citations

…..

General Citation

***

-From Drive and Fantasy : June 1994 : Pierre Skriabine, see this site /5 Authors A-Z (Skriabine or Index of Authors)

On the other hand, when Lacan reformulates this concept on the basis of his elaboration of the object a, he displaces his emphasis from the drive’s signifying structure to its value as jouissance; this change can be seen especially in his topological elaboration of the drive in Seminar XI, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis in 1964.

One possible reference is

Seminar XI 13^th May 1964: The partial drive and its circuit: sub-headings: Die ganze Sexualstrebung-Every drive is partial-Drive, sex and death-The supposed stages-Schaulust-Sado-masochism: p181, 184, 180, 176, 178, 185, 183, of Alan Sheridan’s translation.

…..

Citation of Page 177 to 179, Lacan

***

– The Seminar of Barcelona on Die Wege der Symptombildung : probably Autumn 1996 : Jacques-Alain Miller, see this site /5 Authors A-Z (19960901 or Index of Authors’ texts)

Miller : One cannot forget the Lacanian schema of the detour of the drive in Seminar XI, around the object a. : Probably Seminar XI : 13th May 1964 : p178 of Alan Sheridan’s translation : Three Essays

P177 to 179, Freud now introduces us to the drive by one of the most traditional ways, using at moment the of the language, and not hesitating to base himself on something that belongs only to certain linguistic systems. the three voices, active, passive and But this is merely an envelope. We must see that this signifying reversion is something other, something other than what it dresses in. What is fundamental at the level of each drive is the movement outwards and back in which it is structured.

It is remarkable that Freud can designate these two poles simply by using something that is the verb. Beschauen und beschaut werden, to see and to be seen, quälen and gequält werden, to torment and to be tormented. This is because, from the outset, Freud takes it as understood that no part of this distance covered can be separated from its outwards-and-back movement, from its fundamental reversion, from the circular character of the path of the drive.

Similarly, it is remarkable that, in order to illustrate the

DIAGRAM MISSING

dimension of this Verkehrung, he should choose Schaulust, the pleasure of seeing, and what he cannot designate other than by the combination of two terms in sado-masochism. When he speaks of these two drives, and especially of masochism, he is careful to observe that there are not two stages in these drives, but three. One must distinguish the return into the circuit of the drive of that which appears—but also does not appear—in a third stage. Namely, the appearance of ein neues Subjekt, to be understood as follows—not in the sense that there is already one, namely the subject of the drive, but in that what is new is the appearance of a subject. This subject, which is properly the other, appears in so far as the drive has been able to show its circular course. It is only with its appearance at the level of the other that what there is of the function of the drive may be realized.

It is to this that I would now like to draw your attention. You see here, on the blackboard, a circuit formed by the curve of this rising and redescending arrow that crosses, Drang as it is in its origin, the surface constituted by what I defined last time as the rim, which is regarded in the theory as the source, the Quelle, that is to say, the so-called erogenous zone in the drive. The tension is always loop-shaped and cannot be separated from its return to the erogenous zone.

Here we can clear up the mystery of the zielgelzemmt, of that form that the drive may assume, in attaining its satisfaction without attaining its aim—in so far as it would be defined by a biological function, by the realization of reproductive coupling. For the partial drive does not lie there. What is it?

Let us still suspend the answer, but let us concentrate on this term but, and on the two meanings it may present. In order to differentiate them, I have chosen to notate them here in a language in which they are particularly expressive, English. When you entrust someone with a mission, the aim is not what he brings back, but the itinerary he must take. The aim is the way taken. The French word but may be translated by another word in English, goal. In archery, the goal is not the but either, it is not the bird you shoot, it is having scored a hit and thereby attained your but.

If the drive may be satisfied without attaining what, from the point of view of a biological totalization of function, would be the satisfaction of its end of reproduction, it is because it is a partial drive, and its aim is simply this return into circuit.

This theory is present in Freud. He tells us somewhere that the ideal model for auto-eroticism would be a single mouth kissing itself—a brilliant, even dazzling metaphor, in this respect so typical of everything he writes, and which requires only to be completed by a question. In the drive, is not this mouth what might be called a mouth in the form of an arrow?—a mouth sewn up, in which, in analysis, we see indicating as clearly as possible, in certain silences, the pure agency of the oral drive, closing upon its own satisfaction.

NOTE Translations for the German terms Lacan uses.

Some are not found in the German text of Three Essays…. There follows current day translations of these German words &,where possible, in use by Freud, and then some references to ‘aim’ or ‘but’ in ‘Three Essays’

See Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality : 1905 d : Sigmund Freud, on this site /3 Sigmund Freud (19050101 or Index of Sigmund Freud’s texts). Bilingual version is at www.Freud2Lacan.com

-Lacan’s use of German words in this passage

*

Beschauen und beschaut werden, to see and to be seen

a) Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, Section (2) Deviations in respect to sexual aim, SE VII p149

James Strachey, For there are certain intermediate relations to the sexual object, such as touching and looking at it, which lie on the road towards copulation and are recognized as being preliminary sexual aims.

Freud, Es werden nämlich gewisse intermediäre (auf dem Wege zur Begattung liegende) Beziehungen zum Sexualobjekt, wie das Betasten und Beschauen desselben, als vorläufige Sexualziele anerkannt.

Internet translation, Certain intermediate relationships (on the way to copulation) with the sexual object, such as touching and looking at it, are recognized as preliminary sexual goals.

b) Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII p156,

Section Heading Touching and Looking

Freud, Betasten und Beschauen

**

Lacan quälen and gequält werden, to torment and to be tormented

*

Essay II Infantile Sexuality SE VII p192

James Strachey’s translation, When repression of these inclinations sets in, the desire to see other people’s genitals (whether of their own or the opposite sex) persists as a tormenting compulsion, which in some cases of neurosis later affords the strongest motive force for the formation of symptoms.

The cruel component of the sexual drive [not instinct] develops in childhood even more independently of the sexual activities that are attached to erotogenic zones.

Freud, Nach eingetretener Verdrängung dieser Neigungen bleibt die Neugierde, fremde Genitalien (des eigenen oder des anderen Geschlechtes) zu sehen, als quälender Drang bestehen, der bei mancien neurotischen Fällen dann die stärkste Triebkraft für die Symptombildung abgibt.

In noch größerer Unabhängigkeit von der sonstigen, an erogene Zonen gebundenen Sexualbetätigung entwickelt sich beim Kinde die Grausamkeitskomponente des Sexualtriebes.

Internet translation, After these tendencies have been repressed, the curiosity to see foreign genitals (of one’s own or of the opposite sex) remains as a tormenting urge, which in manic neurotic cases then provides the strongest driving force for symptom formation.

The cruelty component of the sexual drive develops in children with even greater independence from other sexual drive linked to erogenous zones.

**

Lacan, ‘dimension of this Verkehrung’, (reversal or inversion – internet translation)…

P177 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, Similarly, it is remarkable that, in order to illustrate the dimension of this Verkehrung, he should choose Schaulust*, the pleasure of seeing, and what he cannot designate other than by the combination of two terms in sado-masochism.

* Related text – Schaulust, see Using Sigmund Freud’s Term Schaulust, translated as Scopophilia and Voyeurism : 24^th March 2025 : Julia Evans, see this site /Authors A-Z (Evans)

*

Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII p145

James Strachey’s translation, SEXUAL AIM OF INVERTS The important fact to bear in mind is that no one single aim can be laid down as applying in cases of inversion. Among men, intercourse per anum by no means coincides with inversion; masturbation is quite as frequently their exclusive aim, and it is even true that the statement of the problems involved. In all the cases we have examined we have established the fact that the future inverts, in the earliest years of their childhood, pass through a phase of very intense but short-lived fixation to a woman. (usually their mother), and that, after leaving this behind, they identify themselves with a woman and take themselves as their sexual object. That is to say, they proceed from a narcissistic basis, and look for a young man who resembles themselves and whom they may love as their mother loved them.

Freud, SEXUALZIEL DER INVERTIERTEN:: Die wichtige festzuhaltende Tatsache ist, daß das Sexualziel bei: der Inversion keineswegs einheitlich genannt werden kann. Bei Männern fällt Verkehr* per anum durchaus nicht mit Inversion zusammen; Masturbation ist ebenso häufig das ausschließliche Ziel, und Einschränkungen des Sexual-untersuchten Fällen festgestellt, daß die später Invertierten in den ersten Jahren ihrer Kindheit eine Phase von sehr intensiver, aber kurzlebiger Fixierung an das Weib (meist an die Mutter) durchmachen, nach deren Uberwindung sie sich mit dem Weib identifizieren und sich selbst zum Sexualobjekt nehmen, das heißt vom Narzißmus ausgehend jugendlice und der eigenen Person ähnliche Männer aufsuchen, die sie so lieben wollen, wie die Mutter sie geliebt hat.

Internet translation, SEXUAL GOAL OF INVERTS:: The important fact to note is that the sexual goal in inversion can by no means be described as uniform. In men, intercourse per anum does not coincide with inversion; masturbation is just as frequently the exclusive goal, and limitations of sexuality have been found in cases examined that those who later become inverted go through a phase of very intense but short-lived fixation on women (usually their mother) in the first years of their childhood. After overcoming this phase, they identify with women and take themselves as their sexual object. That is, starting from narcissism, they seek out youthful men who are similar to themselves and who want to love them as their mother loved them.

* The EC Collectives’ German translator states, In 19th Century German verkher still had religious meaning of communion. Not surprisingly modern interpretations and translations avoid communion and use the word ‘relation’ with or without ‘ship’ at the end. Intercourse is also acceptable depending on the context. JE : As the wrong word was given for comment, I will revert with Verkehrung.

…

Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII p152,

James Strachey’s translation, The playing of a sexual part by the mucous membrane of the anus is by no means limited to intercourse between men: preference for it is in no way characteristic of inverted feeling. On the contrary, it seems that paedicatio with a male owes its origin to an analogy with a similar act performed with a woman; while mutual masturbation is the sexual aim most often found in intercourse between inverts.

Freud, Die sexuelle Rolle der Afterschleimhaut ist keineswegs auf den Verkehr zwischen Männern beschränkt, ihre Bevorzugung hat nichts für das invertierte Fühlen Charakteristisches. Es scheint im Gegenteil, daß die Pädikatio des Mannes ihre Rolle der Analogie mit dem Akt beim Weibe verdankt, während gegenseitige Masturbation das Sexualziel ist, welches sich beim Verkehr Invertierter am ehesten ergibt.

Internet translation, The sexual role of the anal mucosa is by no means limited [could be inversion] to intercourse between men; its preference has nothing characteristic of inverted feeling. On the contrary, it seems that the male’s pedicatio owes its role to the analogy with the female act, while mutual masturbation is the sexual goal most readily apparent in intercourse between inverted people.

**

Schaulust (look-lust or showmanship – internet translation)

Lacan, … he should choose Schaulust, (look lust or showmanship – internet translation) the pleasure of seeing,

*

Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII p156

James Strachey’s translation, The progressive concealment of the body which goes along with civilization keeps sexual curiosity awake. This curiosity seeks to complete the sexual object by revealing its hidden parts. It can, however, be diverted (‘sublimated’) in the direction of art, if its interest can be shifted away from the genitals on to the shape of the body as a whole.’ It is usual for most normal people to linger to some extent over the intermediate sexual aim of a looking that has a sexual tinge to it; indeed, this offers them a possibility of directing some proportion of their libido on to higher artistic aims. On the other hand, this pleasure in looking [scopophilia] becomes a perversion …

Freud, Die mit der Kultur fortschreitende Verhüllung des Körpérs hält die sexuelle Neugierde wach, welche danach strebt, sich das Sexualobjekt durch Enthüllung der verborgenen Teile zu ergänzen, die aber ins Künstlerische abgelenkt (»sublimiert«) werden kann, wenn man ihr Interesse von den Genitalien weg auf die Körperbildung im ganzen zu lenken vermag?. Ein Verweilen bei diesem intermediären Sexualziel des sexuell betonten Schauens kommt in gewissem Grade den meisten Normalen zu, ja es gibt ihnen die Möglichkeit, einen gewissen Betrag ihrer Libido auf höhere künstlerische Ziele zu richten. Zur Perversion wird die Schaulust im Gegenteil, …

Internet translation, The progressive concealment of the body, which is part of culture, keeps sexual curiosity alive, which strives to complement the sexual object by revealing its hidden parts, but which can be diverted (“sublimated”) into the artistic if one can direct its interest away from the genitals and toward the body as a whole. To a certain extent, most normal people are able to dwell on this intermediate sexual goal of sexually emphasized viewing; indeed, it gives them the opportunity to direct a certain amount of their libido toward higher artistic goals. On the contrary, lust to look (scopophilia) becomes a perversion…

…

Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII p166

James Strachey’s translation, (c) An especially prominent part is played as factors in the formation of symptoms in psychoneuroses by the partial drives [NOT component instincts],’ which emerge for the most part as pairs of opposites and which we have met with as introducing new sexual aims—the scopophilic drive [NOT instinct] and exhibitionism and the active and passive forms of the drive [NOT instinct] for cruelty. The contribution made by the last of these is essential to the understanding of the fact that symptoms involve suffering, and it almost invariably dominates a part of the patient’s social behaviour.

Freud, (c) Eine ganz hervorragende Rolle unter den Symptombildnern der Psychoneurosen spielen die zumeist in Gegensatzpaaren auftretenden Partialtriebe?, die wir als Bringer neuer Sexualziele kennengèlernt haben, der Trieb der Schaulust und der Exhibition und der aktiv und passiv ausgebildete Trieb zur Grausamkeit. Der Beitrag des letzteren ist zum Verständnis der Leidensnatur der: Symptome unentbehrlich und beherrscht fast regelmäßig ein Stück des sozialen Verhaltens der Kranken

Internet translation, (c) A most prominent role among the symptom-formers of psychoneuroses is played by the partial drives, which mostly appear in pairs of opposites and which we have come to know as the bringers of new sexual goals: the drive of lust to look (voyeurism/scopophilia)* and exhibitionism, and the actively and passively developed instinct of cruelty. The contribution of the latter is indispensable to understanding the nature of the symptoms and almost always dominates a part of the social behaviour of the patient.

* Related text – Schaulust, see Using Sigmund Freud’s Term Schaulust, translated as Scopophilia and Voyeurism : 24^th March 2025 : Julia Evans, see this site /Authors A-Z (Evans)

***

The remainders

ein neues Subjekt, a new subject (internet translation)

The search for Subjeckt gives a result on SE VII p147, and the many appearances of Neues do not give anything close to a new subject – new sexual drive – yes!

zielgelzemmt, targeted (from internet)

Ziel (aim or goal) appears many times but this word is not used.

***

Some more quotations,

– Lacan uses Beschauen und beschaut werden, to see and to be seen

Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII P157

James Strachey’s translation, Continued from above quote, James Strachey’s translation, In the perversions which are directed towards looking and being looked at, we come across a very remarkable characteristic with which we shall be still more intensely concerned in the aberration that we shall consider next: in these perversions the sexual aim occurs in two forms, an active and a passive one.

The force which opposes scopophilia, but which may be overridden by it (in a manner parallel to what we have previously seen in the case of disgust), is shame.

Freud, Bei der Perversion, deren Streben das Schauen und Beschautwerden ist, tritt ein sehr merkwürdiger Charakter hervor, der uns bei der nächst-folgenden Abirrung noch intensiver beschäftigen wird. Das Sexualziel ist hiebei nämlich in zweifacher Ausbildung vorhanden, in aktiver und in passiver Form.

Die Macht, welche der Schaulust: entgegensteht und eventuell durch sie aufgehoben wird, ist die Scham (wie vorhin der Ekel).

Internet translation, In the case of this perversion, the driving force of which is the lust to look and to be looked at, a very peculiar character emerges, one which will occupy us even more intensely in the next aberration. In this context, the sexual goal is present in two forms: active and passive.

The force that stands in opposition to the lust to look (gaze) – and which may be overcome by it – is shame (just as, earlier, it was disgust).

…

Lacan, the ideal model for auto-eroticism would be a single mouth kissing itself

p179 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, If the drive may be satisfied without attaining what, from the point of view of a biological totalization of function, would be the satisfaction of its end of reproduction, it is because it is a partial drive, and its aim is simply this return into circuit.

This theory is present in Freud. He tells us somewhere that the ideal model for auto-eroticism would be a single mouth kissing itself—a brilliant, even dazzling metaphor, in this respect so typical of everything he writes, and which requires only to be completed by a question. In the drive, is not this mouth what might be called a mouth in the form of an arrow?—a mouth sewn up, in which, in analysis, we see indicating as clearly as possible, in certain silences, the pure agency of the oral drive, closing upon its own satisfaction.

*

Essay II Infantile Sexuality SE VII p182 (‘It’s a pity I can’t kiss myself’, he seems to be saying.)

James Strachey’s translation, To begin with, sexual activity attaches itself to functions serving the purpose of self-preservation and does not become independent of them until later.! No one who has seen a baby sinking back satiated from the breast and falling asleep with flushed cheeks and a blissful smile can escape the reflection that this picture persists as a prototype of the expression of sexual satisfaction in later life. The need for repeating the sexual satisfaction now becomes detached from the need for taking nourishment—a separation which becomes inevitable when the teeth appear and food is no longer taken in only by sucking, but is also chewed up. The child does not make use of an extraneous body for his sucking, but prefers a part of his own skin because it is more convenient, because it makes him independent of the external world, which he is not yet able to control, and because in that way he provides himself, as it were, with a second erotogenic zone, though one of an inferior kind. The inferiority of this second region is among the reasons why at a later date he seeks the corresponding part-the lips—of another person. (‘It’s a pity I can’t kiss myself’, he seems to be saying.)

It is not every child who sucks in this way. It may be assumed that those children do so in whom there is a constitutional intensification of the erotogenic significance of the labial region. If that significance persists, these same children when they are grown up will become epicures in kissing, will be inclined to perverse kissing, or, if males, will have a powerful motive for drinking and smoking. If, however, repression ensues, they will feel disgust at food and will produce hysterical vomiting.

Freud, Die Sexualbetätigung lehnt sich zunächst an eine der zur Lebenserhaltung dienenden Funktionen an und macht sich erst später von ihr selbständig. Wer ein Kind gesättigt von der Brust zurücksinken sieht, mit geröteten Wangen und seligem Lächeln in Schlaf verfallen, der wird sich sagen müssen, daß dieses Bild auch für den: Ausdrudk.der sexuellen Befriedigung im späteren Leben maßgebend bleibt. Nun wird das Bedürfnis nach Wiederholung der sexuellen Befriedigung von dem Bedürfnis nach Nahrungsaufnahme getrennt, eine Trennung, die unvermeidlich ist, wenn die Zähne erscheinen und die Nahrung nicht mehr ausschließlich eingesogen, sondern gekaut wird. Eines fremden Objektes bedient sich das Kind zum Saugen nicht, sondern lieber einer eigenen Hautstelle, weil diese ihm bequemer ist, weil es sich sa von der Außenwelt unabhängig macht, die es zu beherrschen noch nicht vermag, und weil es sich solcherart gleichsam eine zweite, wenngleich minderwertige erogene Zone schafft. Die Minderwertigkeit dieser zweiten Stelle wird es später mit dazu veranlassen, die gleichartigen Teile, die Lippen, einer anderen Person zu suchen. (*Schade, daß ich mich nicht küssen kann«, möchte man ihm unterlegen.)

Nicht alle Kinder lutschen. Es ist anzunehmen, daß jene Kinder dazu gelangen, bei denen. die erogene. Bedeutung der Lippenzone konstitutionell verstärkt ist. Bleibt diese erhalten, so werden diese Kinder als Erwachsene Kußfeinschmecker werden, zu perversen Küssen neigen oder als Männer ein kräftiges Motiv zum Trinken und Rauchen mitbringen. Kommt aber die Verdrängung hinzu, so werden sie Ekel vor dem Essen empfinden und hysterisches Erbrechen produzieren.

Internet translation, Sexual activity is initially linked to one of the functions necessary for sustaining life and only later becomes independent of it. Anyone who sees a child, sated, slump back from the breast, falling asleep with rosy cheeks and a blissful smile, will have to admit that this image remains a defining one for the expression of sexual satisfaction in later life. Now the need for repeated sexual gratification becomes separated from the need for food intake, a separation that is inevitable once teeth appear and food is no longer simply sucked in but is chewed. The child does not use a foreign object for sucking, but prefers a part of its own skin, because this is more comfortable, because it thereby detaches itself from the outside world, which it is not yet able to control, and because in this way it creates, as it were, a second, albeit inferior, erogenous zone. The inferiority of this second position will later lead him, amongst other things, to seek out similar parts – the lips – on another person. (*‘It’s a shame I can’t kiss myself,’ one might want to suggest to him.)

Not all children suck their thumbs. It is reasonable to assume that this behaviour is observed in those children in whom the erogenous significance of the lip area is constitutionally heightened. If this is preserved, these children will, as adults, become connoisseurs of kissing, have a tendency towards perverse kisses, or – as men – have a strong incentive to drink and smoke. However, if repression is also involved, they will feel revulsion towards food and experience hysterical vomiting.

…

Goal or Aim – Ziel

p179 Alan Sheridan’s translation, Lacan, Let us still suspend the answer, but let us concentrate on this term but, and on the two meanings it may present. In order to differentiate them, I have chosen to notate them here in a language in which they are particularly expressive, English. When you entrust someone with a mission, the aim is not what he brings back, but the itinerary he must take. The aim is the way taken. The French word but may be translated by another word in English, goal. In archery, the goal is not the but either, it is not the bird you shoot, it is having scored a hit and thereby attained your but.

*

Essay II Infantile Sexuality SE VII P198

James Strachey’s translation, We shall give the name of ‘pregenital’ to organisations of sexual life in which the genital zones have not yet taken over their predominant part. We have hitherto identified two such organisations, which almost seem as though they were harking back to early animal forms of life.

The first of these is the oral or, as it might be called, cannibalistic pregenital sexual organisation. Here sexual activity has not yet been separated from the ingestion of food; nor are opposite currents within the activity differentiated. The object of both activities is the same; the sexual aim consists in the incorporation of the object-the prototype of a process which, in the form of identification, is later to play such an important psychological part. A relic of this constructed phase of organisation, which is forced upon our notice by pathology, may be seen in thumb-sucking, in which the sexual activity, detached from the nutritive activity, has substituted for the extraneous object one situated in the subject’s own body.’

A second pregenital phase is that of the sadistic-anal organization. Here the opposition between two currents, which runs through all sexual life, is already developed: they cannot yet, however, be described as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, but only as ‘active’ and ‘passive’. The activity is put into operation by the drive [NOT instinct] for mastery through the agency of the somatic musculature; the organ which, more than any other, represents the passive sexual aim is the erotogenic mucous membrane of the anus. Both of these currents have objects, which, however, are not identical. Alongside these, other component drives [instincts] operate in an auto-erotic manner. In this phase, therefore, sexual polarity and an extraneous object are already observable. But organisation and subordination to the reproductive function are still absent.[1]

Freud, Organisationen des Sexuallebens, in denen die Genitalzonen noch nicht in ihre vorherrschende Rolle eingetreten sind, wollen wir prä-genitale heißen. Wir haben bisher zwei derselben kennengelernt, die wie Rückfälle auf frühtierische Zustände anmuten.

Eine erste solche prägenitale Sexualorganisation ist die orale oder, wenn wir wollen, kannibalische. Die Sexualtätigkeit ist hier von der Nahrungsaufnahme noch nicht gesondert, Gegensätze innerhalb derselben nicht differenziert. Das Objekt der einen Tätigkeit ist auch das der anderen, das Sexualziel besteht in der Einverleibung des Objektes, dem Vorbild dessen, was späterhin als Identifizierung eine so bedeutsame psychische Rolle spielen wird. Als Rest dieser fiktiven, uns durch die Pathologie aufgenötigten Organisationsphase kann das Lutschen angesehen werden, in dem die Sexualtätigkeit, von der Ernährungstätigkeit abgelöst, das fremde Objekt gegen eines am eigenen Körper aufgegeben hat.

Eine zweite prägenitale Phase ist die der sadistisch-analen Organisation. Hier ist die Gegensätzlichkeit, welche das Sexualleben durchzieht, bereits ausgebildet; sie kann aber noch nicht männlich und weiblich, sondern muß aktiv und passiv benannt werden. Die Aktivität wird durch den Bemächtigungstrieb von seiten der Körpermuskulatur hergestellt, als Organ mit passivem Sexualziel macht sich vor allem die erogene Darmschleimhaut geltend; für beide Strebungen sind Objekte vorhanden, die aber nicht zusammenfallen. Daneben betätigen sich andere Partialtriebe in autoerotischer Weise. In dieser Phase sind also die, sexuelle Polarität und das fremde Objekt bereits nachweisbar. Die Organisation und die Unterordnung unter die Fortpflanzungsfunktion stehen nochaus’:

Internet translation, We shall refer to forms of sexual organisation in which the genital regions have not yet assumed their predominant role as ‘pre-genital’. So far, we have encountered two such forms, which appear to be a regression to early animal states.

A prime example of such a pre-genital form of sexual organisation is the oral – or, if you will, cannibalistic – form. Here, sexual activity is not yet distinct from feeding, and no distinctions are made between the two. The object of one activity is also that of the other; the sexual goal consists in the incorporation of the object, the model of what will later play such a significant psychological role as identification. Sucking can be regarded as a remnant of this fictitious organisational phase, imposed upon us by pathology, in which sexual activity, having been separated from the act of feeding, has replaced the external object with one on one’s own body.

A second pregenital phase is that of sadistic-anal organisation. Here, the polarity that pervades sexual life is already established; however, it cannot yet be described in terms of male and female, but must be referred to as active and passive. The activity is generated by the drive for possession on the part of the body’s musculature; the erogenous intestinal mucosa, as an organ with a passive sexual goal, plays a particularly prominent role; there are objects for both efforts, but they do not coincide. In addition, other partial drives manifest themselves in an autoerotic manner. In this phase, therefore, sexual polarity and the external object are already evident. The organisation and subordination to the reproductive function are still pending.

…

Goal or Aim – Ziel, see above for quote from Lacan

*

Essay II Infantile Sexuality SE VII P200

James Strachey’s translation, DIPHASIC CHOICE OF OBJECT

It may be regarded as typical of the choice of an object that the process is diphasic, that is, that it occurs in two waves. The first of these begins between the ages of two and five, and is brought to a halt or to a retreat by the latency period; it is characterized by the infantile nature of the sexual aims. The second wave sets in with puberty and determines the final outcome of sexual life.

Although the diphasic nature of object-choice comes down in essentials to no more than the operation of the latency period, it is of the highest importance in regard to disturbances of that final outcome. The resultants of infantile object-choice are carried over into the later period. They either persist as such or are revived at the actual time of puberty. But as a consequence of the repression which has developed between the two phases they prove unutilizable. Their sexual aims have become mitigated and they now represent what may be described as the ‘affectionate current’ of sexual life. Only psycho-analytic investigation can show that behind this affection, admiration and respect there lie concealed the old sexual longings of the infantile component drives [instincts] which have now become unserviceable. The object-choice of the pubertal period is obliged to dispense with the objects of childhood and to start afresh as a ‘sensual current’. Should these two currents fail to converge, the result is often that one of the ideals of sexual life, the focusing of all desires upon a single object, will be unattainable.

German, Zweizeitige Objektwahl.

Man kann es als ein typisches Vorkommnis ansprechen, daß die Objektwahl zweizeitig, in zwei Schüben erfolgt. Der erste Schub nimmt in den Jahren zwischen zwei und fünf seinen Anfang und wird durch die Latenzzeit zum Stillstand oder zur Rückbildung gebracht; er ist durch die infantile Natur seiner Sexualziele ausgezeichnet. Der zweite setzt mit der Pubertät ein und bestimmt die definitive Gestaltung des Sexuallebens.

Die Tatsache der zweizeitigen Objektwahl, die sich im wesentlichen auf die Wirkung der Latenzzeit reduziert, wird aber höchst bedeutungsvoll für dieb Störung dieses Endzustandes. Die Ergebnisse der infantilen Objektwahl ragen in die spätere Zeit hinein; sie sind entweder als solche erhalten geblieben, oder sie erfahren zur Zeit der Pubertät selbst eine Auffrischung. Infolge der Verdrängungsentwicklung, welche zwischen beiden Phasen liegt, erweisen sie sich aber als unverwendbar. Ihre Sexualziele haben eine Milderung erfahren, und sie stellen nun das dar, was wir als die zärtliche Strömung des Sexuallebens bezeichnen können. Erst die psychoanalytische Untersuchung kann nachweisen, daß sich hinter dieser Zärtlichkeit, Verehrung und Hochachtung die alten, jetzt unbrauchbar gewordenen Sexualstrebungen der infantilen Partialtriebe verbergen. Die Objektwahl der Pubertätszeit muß auf die infantilen Objekte verzichten und als sinnliche Strömung von neuem beginnen. Das Nichtzusammentreffen der beiden Strömungen hat oft genug die Folge, daß eines der Ideale des Sexuallebens, die Vereinigung aller Begehrungen in einem Objekt, nicht erreicht werden kann.

Internet translation, Two-stage (Di-phasic) object selection.

It can be described as a typical occurrence that object selection takes place in two stages, in two phases. The first surge begins between the ages of two and five and is brought to a halt or reversed by the latency period; it is characterised by the infantile nature of its sexual goals. The second begins with puberty and determines the definitive shape of one’s sex life.

However, the fact that object selection takes place in two stages – which essentially boils down to the effect of the latency period – becomes highly significant in terms of the disruption of this final state. The results of infantile object choice extend into later life; they have either been preserved as such, or are themselves revived during puberty. However, due to the displacement that occurs between the two phases, they prove to be unusable. Their sexual goals have become more subdued, and they now represent what we might call the tender current of sexual life. Only psychoanalytic investigation can demonstrate that behind this tenderness, adoration and esteem lie the old, now obsolete sexual drives of the infantile partial drives. The choice of objects during puberty must dispense with infantile objects and begin anew as a sensual current. The failure of these two currents to converge often results in one of the ideals of sexual life – the unification of all desires in a single object – remaining unattainable.

***

Citations continued

***

P178 Lacan

-Using Sigmund Freud’s Term Schaulust, translated as Scopophilia and Voyeurism : 24th March 2025 : Julia Evans, see this site /5 Authors A-Z (Evans)

…..

Page 182 Lacan

-Shame, an old-fashioned affect? : November 2009 (Paris) : Jean-Luc Monnier, see this site /5 Authors A-Z (Monnier or Index of Authors’ texts)

Monnier :I shall therefore lean on these two texts.

First, in Seminar Xl, on page 182 (Alan Sheridan’s translation). I quote Lacan commenting on the famous example of Sartre in Being and Nothingness:

What occurs in voyeurism? […] The gaze is the object lost and suddenly re-found in the conflagration of shame, by the introduction of the other .Up to that point, what is the subject trying to see? What he is trying to see, make no mistake, is the object as absence.[13]

Shame breaks out where the gaze and the Other meet. Shame is that affect which connects the gaze to the Other in as much as this Other signals to the subject his status as object, revealed in the surprise. However, and Lacan specifies this, based on Sartre’s text, this Other is an imagined Other. The subject is the one who surprises himself as a voyeur in the Other’s gaze – which is thus also his own – based on a sound, a rustling of leaves, a footstep in the corridor.**

13 Lacan, J., The Seminar, Book Xl, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, transl. By A. Sheridan, Penguin, 1994, p. 182 of Alan Sheridan’s translation. : Seminar XI : 13th May 1964. See above for a more complete quote.

Also see Essay I The Sexual Aberrations, SE VII P157 Quoted above.

** p84 of Alan Sheridan’s translation, 26th February 1964, Information on Seminar XI The Four Fundamental Concepts (1963-1964) : from 15th January 1964 : Jacques Lacan see this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19640115 or 19640226 or Index of Jacques Lacan’s texts)

Lacan, The gaze sees itself—to be precise, the gaze of which Sartre speaks, the gaze that surprises me and reduces me to shame, since this is the feeling he regards as the most dominant. The gaze I encounter—you can find this in Sartre’s own writing—is, not a seen gaze, but a gaze imagined by me in the field of the Other.

If you turn to Sartre’s own text, you will see that, far from speaking of the emergence of this gaze as of something that concerns the organ of sight, he refers to the sound of rustling leaves, suddenly heard while out hunting, to a footstep heard in a corridor. And when are these sounds heard? At the moment when he has presented himself in the action of looking through a keyhole. A gaze surprises him in the function of voyeur, disturbs him, overwhelms him and reduces him to a feeling of shame. The gaze in question is certainly the presence of others as such. But does this mean that originally it is in the relation of subject to subject, in the function of the existence of others as looking at me, that we apprehend what the gaze really is? Is it not clear that the gaze intervenes here only in as much as it is not the annihilating subject, correlative of the world of objectivity, who feels himself surprised, but the subject sustaining himself in a function of desire?

Is it not precisely because desire is established here in the domain of seeing that we can make it vanish?