| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 外國語文學系 === 98 === ABSTRACT
In this thesis, I explore how Bataille‟s literary and theoretical depiction of the ambivalence of humanity has shed light on Lacan and paved the way for his exploration in the late 1950s‟ of the underlying ethics of man‟s actions. This exploration is broached not only to make apparent Lacan‟s inheritance from Bataille (such as the notion of “the jouissance of transgression”) on which he remains silence but to examine the very revolution Bataille and Lacan have caused on the notion of “man (or humanity),” a notion that has been idealized and (over-)simplified since the Age of the Enlightenment. Of the latter—i.e. the revolution they have caused, I conceive: it has to do with the two ideas—“man‟s presence is limited” and “the inevitability of man‟s transgression in terms of that limit”—developed/thematized in Bataille and Lacan‟s works. The two ideas shape the content of humanity‟s ambivalence which is against that “harmonious one” thinkers of the Enlightenment have buttressed. Thus, in this thesis, I shall examine such two ideas in light of Bataille and Lacan.
In Chapter One, I explain the genesis of my project, making clear the goal of this thesis, and examine studies that have been done which are connected with my project in linking up Bataille and Lacan with their discussion of the limit and transgression.
In Chapter Two, I discuss Bataille‟s “The History of Eroticism” (1949) and his article “The Use Value of D. A. F. de Sade” (1930) to picture Bataille‟s critical depiction of humanity‟s ambivalence. I see that such a manifestation of the ambivalence of humanity has been embedded in Bataille‟s exploration in these two works of one dyadic concept that man is well-aware—“the limit (or actions of delimitation) and transgression”—which is designated as contextually human-specific. And I argue: Bataille‟s disclosure/rendition of the ambivalence of humanity and his insinuation of his curiosity over the “reason” behind man‟s actions are the threshold Lacan explores—in light of psychoanalysis—the genesis and the concept of “ethics” in terms of human behaviors.
In Chapter Three, I discuss Lacan‟s essay “Kant with Sade” (1962) and his Seminar VII (in which Lacan examines the conception of and the problem behind “ethics”) to explore the impact Bataille‟s disclosure of humanity‟s ambivalence has left on Lacan. I contend: in light of the actions Bataille portrays in “The History of Eroticism” and “The Use Value of D. A. F. de Sade” that human being has undertaken—such as self-delimitation, denial (negation) of his animality, excretion (of the heterogeneous), appropriation, and transgression—Lacan explores the underlying ethics of man‟s actions, he works to answer the drive behind man‟s actions. In view of psychoanalysis, Lacan shows that man‟s action (or to be specific, the nature of man‟s action—reserved or transgressive) is in relation to the intricate power struggle between the insatiable demand of the superego (that limitlessly abuses man) and the presence of the pleasure principle in man that holds back man‟s submission to the jouissance of the superego: the nature of man‟s actions—transgressive or not—is determined by the force that prevails at the moment (on account of Lacan, the prevalence of the superego brings forth the designation of transgression). I conceive: manifested by this prospect of rivalry Lacan professes that is behind man‟s action is his distinct rendition of “the presence of the limit in man” and “man‟s transgression.” This rendition of Lacan not only echoes Bataille in manifesting the ambivalence of humanity but significantly shows the very dilemma that man in general has been in—between seeking “pleasure” under the guidance of the pleasure principle and going after the duty—“the Good,” the opposite of pleasure that toils and afflicts man (i.e. what sabotages man‟s pleasure)—that man‟s superego has urged him. I contend: this dilemma that man has been in, of which Lacan illuminates, is foregrounded in Bataille‟s Story of the Eye (1928). Thus, in Chapter Four, I delve into Story of the Eye to testify my contention.
In Chapter Four, I deal with Bataille‟s literary portrait of the struggle and ambivalence of humanity, and I discuss how Story of the Eye, given birth in light of a duty Bataille has inexplicably felt, anticipates Lacan‟s theory of “the jouissance of transgression.”
Finally, in Chapter Five, I conclude this thesis with my proclamation: the idea Bataille has brought up regarding humanity‟s ambivalence anticipates Lacan‟s exploration of the ethics behind it. Bataille‟s study of “man‟s prohibition against animality” and “the return of animality in the form of eroticism” highlight the paradox embedded in humanity: man‟s limited presence is ineluctably to be encountered by man‟s transgression. Bataille‟s exploration of such ambivalence sheds light on Lacan in discussing Sade, “the jouissance of transgression,” man‟s suffering under the command of the superego, and the pleasure of remaining within the limit. I consider: the effect Bataille‟s transgressive writing/writings on transgression has upon Lacan—on his discussion in the 1950s‟ of the underlying ethics of humanity—is obvious. Although Lacan does not give open credit to Bataille, his lectures have already done that for him.
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