The Divine Details - [excerpt]

translated by Daniel Collins

Accordingly, it is necessary to distinguish three states of jouissance and not just two. First, the jouissance One as preliminary, that which would be the jouissance of the pure living being, and therefore fundamentally lost. Second, the jouissance One as symbolized by the phallus—that is, another state. The jouissance One symbolized by the phallus is a jouissance as castrated. Third, the jouissance of the Other, namely the one that is precisely not symbolized by the phallus about which we could say that for a certain period, Lacan confuses with the second.

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Perversion, on the other hand, is a response about the jouissance of the Other. It’s not a question about its desire, but a response about its jouissance. That is to say, a response about what to do to ensure its jouissance. Thus one could say that the true pervert is the one who devotes him- or herself to the operation of restoring the jouissance to the Other and who is thus susceptible to a proselytism founded on a “Look at them! They don’t know how to jouir!” How does one restore the lost jouissance to the Other if not by presenting it as surplus jouissance?

May 10th 1989 session of Jacques-Alain Miller’s seminar Les divins détails, Paris.

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