Four discourses and sinthomatique writing in Saul Bellow’s Herzog: a Lacanian approach
This paper studies sinthomatique writing in Saul Bellow’s Herzog in the form of letter-writing. Referring to Lacanian theory, the Sinthome is discussed in the study as a system of signification that exploits the unconscious digging for jouissance. Connected to jouissance in writing unconscious, th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2018
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12906/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12906/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12906/1/20121-85280-1-PB.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper studies sinthomatique writing in Saul Bellow’s Herzog in the form of letter-writing. Referring to
Lacanian theory, the Sinthome is discussed in the study as a system of signification that exploits the unconscious
digging for jouissance. Connected to jouissance in writing unconscious, the Sinthome is the fourth ring in the
Borromean knot that protects a subject against psychosis by intersecting the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real
orders. This study further develops the idea of the Sinthome in relation to the Four Lacanian Discourses. In respect
to Discourses of the Master, University, Hysteric, and Analyst, the following procedure is introduced for a subject
excluded spatially and socially: foreclosure of master signifier, rejection of desire, reception of jouissance, and
communication of the unconscious. The subject in above-mentioned moves needs a sinthome to protect his/her
subjectivity against disintegration. Regarding Jacques Lacan’s example about James Joyce in using specific styles
and epiphany, letter-writing is introduced as the Sinthome in Herzog that helps Herzog deliver his subjectivity from
dissolution. Herzog is a character on the verge of breakdown and madness after his second divorce. He reconfigures
his subjectivity when he forecloses AMERICA as master signifier, no longer enjoys knowledge, receives
contradictions and truth, and ultimately jots down his unconscious. Finally, the role of the Sinthome is explored in
the production of art. The Sinthome is considered as a kind of unique discourse through which a psychotic artist is
enabled to originate new artistic productions. |
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