{"id":13219,"date":"2015-04-18T14:09:25","date_gmt":"2015-04-18T18:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/?p=13219"},"modified":"2015-04-18T14:39:18","modified_gmt":"2015-04-18T18:39:18","slug":"duras-lol-stein-vanheule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/2015\/04\/18\/duras-lol-stein-vanheule\/","title":{"rendered":"duras Lol Stein vanheule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Page 144 Vanheule:\u00a0 Lacan doesn’t emphasize Lol’s failure to signify her existence, but indicates that by occupying the a-subjective<\/span><\/strong> position, and becoming totally absorbed in her fascination with the dancing couple, Lol copes with the desiring relation that unfolds between her financ\u00e9 and Anne-Marie Stretter.<\/p>\n

By being the mere observer<\/strong><\/em>, Lol positions herself as an a-subjective<\/span><\/strong> observer in relation to the desiring couple, and gains a feeling of being: ‘this [Lol’s] being is never really specified, personified, presentified in her novel, in so far as she only exists in the form of this core object, this object a<\/span><\/strong><\/em> of something that exists as a gaze, but which is a gaze, a scattered gaze, a gaze-object, a gaze that we repeatedly see’ (Lacan Sem XII).<\/p>\n

Indeed Lol’s a-subjective<\/span><\/strong> position as observer is functional: it helps her deal with social situations and avoid the position of the object a<\/span><\/strong><\/em> in relation to a ferocious Other.<\/p>\n

By observing others and by explicitly positioning herself as the ‘excluded third’ (Lacan Other Ecrits) she avoids being the passive object of the gaze. With her outrageous reaction, by contrast, Lol’s mother destroys this a-subjective<\/span><\/strong> position vis-a-vis the desiring couple and creates a dual situation. Out of great concern, she actively addresses Lol, expresses her wish that the scene at the party hadn’t taken place and physically touches her. Lol can’t cope with this direct appeal by her mother, which urges Lol to manifest herself as a subject, and attacks her mother.<\/p>\n

Another triangular situation<\/strong>, which Lol actively organized, consists of her relationship with Jacques Hold, the narrator of the story, and Tatiana Karl, ‘her best friend during her school years’ (Duras 1965 p. 1). Jacques Hold is fond of Lola Valerie Stein, but has an affair with Tatiana. Lol supports this affair and puts herself in the position of observer, where she watches love scenes between them. Lacan views this situation as subjectively interesting for Lol, and claims that ‘a knot is made again there’. Indeed, by occupying the a-subjective<\/span><\/strong> position of observer Lol revives from her lifeless marriage.<\/p>\n

However, this triangular situation does not last, and ends up in a dual relationship<\/strong> when Jacques Hold falls in love with Lol. He seduces her, they plan to make love, yet at the moment Hold undresses Lol she literally goes mad. She suddenly thinks the police are in the buidling and that people are being beaten on the stairway, and starts to refer to hereself as Tatiana Karl and Lol Stein at the same time. The direct confrontation with Hold’s desire is a situation she cannot cope with.<\/p>\n

[…] It appears that by evading physical interaction with a man who is attracted to the female body, Lol feels at ease and maintains a feeling of identity. obviously abstinence guarantees that she is not overwhelmed by jouissance<\/span><\/strong>: the a-subjective<\/span><\/strong> position as observer protects her from being the object of jouissance<\/span><\/strong> of the Other. At the same time her position qua gaze seems to provide her with a surplus jouissance<\/span><\/strong>, and a bearable level of sexual excitation. Through her a-subjective<\/span><\/strong> position Lol delimits her own being and creates an experience of consistency. 145<\/p>\n

What is innovative about Lacan’s discussion of this fictional case is that it bears witness of a positive view of the object a<\/span><\/strong><\/em> in psychosis. Although the story does not have a happy ending, it shows tht Lola Valerie Stein’s position as observer doesn’t necessarily exclude her from social bonds. As long as desiring others do not come too close and she can maintain her abstinent position, she is not a victim of the non-instalment of a belief in the Other<\/span><\/strong> as a reference for making sense of desire.<\/p>\n

Lol’s abstinent sexual attitude is a sublime coping mechanism by means of which she keeps the pressure emanating from desiring others at bay and prevents herself from being the object of jouissance of a cruel Other<\/strong>. The only problem is that she did not remain faithful to this non-physical sexual attitude, which suited her so well. 146<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Page 144 Vanheule:\u00a0 Lacan doesn’t emphasize Lol’s failure to signify her existence, but indicates that by occupying the a-subjective position, and becoming totally absorbed in her fascination with the dancing couple, Lol copes with the desiring relation that unfolds between her financ\u00e9 and Anne-Marie Stretter. By being the mere observer, Lol positions herself as an … Continue reading “duras Lol Stein vanheule”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,54,72,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jouissance","category-love","category-objet-a","category-subjectivity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13219"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13225,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13219\/revisions\/13225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terada.ca\/discourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}