Subjectivity Under Construction-Messianism and Masochism in ＂Circe＂

建構中的主體：論〈瑟爾西〉中的彌賽亞主義與受虐狂

10.7015/JEAS.201809_48(3).0001

許靜瑛(Ching-Ying Hsu)

J. Lacan ； ＂Circe＂ ； Sinthome ； Messianism ； Masochism ； 拉岡 ； 〈瑟爾西〉 ； 聖狀(Sinthome) ； 彌賽亞主義 ； 受虐狂

歐美研究

48卷3期（2018 / 09 / 01）

333 - 386

英文

I read the problematic episode of ＂Circe＂ as Joyce's experiment with a sinthomatic construction of subjectivity, contending that there is a constant process of unknotting and reknotting in the construction of textual subjectivity. I examine whether the sinthomatic construction of subjectivity, as it is evidenced in the fantasmatic episodes, truly invents new structural stratifications of subjectivity and alternative libidinal organizations. By way of Lacanian psychoanalysis and Zizek's theory, I argue that masochism in ‘‘Circe’’ is not necessarily ethical but can function as a preparatory step towards the true ethical act. Pseudomessianism and masochism are opposed to the true messianism manifested through neighbour love as a genuine ethical act. Enlightened by Lacan's complex theory of the psychoanalytic act and Badiou's idea of new neighbourhood, I try to capture the ethical impact of genuine messianism. Through works of love, a new neighbourhood, conceived as an open, generic set in the Badiouian sense, comes into being. Love as an ethical act is a life-altering, structure-transforming movement, reconfiguring the relationship between the subject and the Other, gesturing toward a new singular universal, a new formation of neighbourhood. Moreover, ＂Circe＂ does not terminate with the indulgence of an idiosyncratic sinthome, but the moment when the sinthome is breached by the ethical act of neighbour love, which opens for the further renewal and reinvention of the sinthome and the intersubjective relationship.

本文探討喬伊斯如何在〈瑟爾西〉中進行主體聖狀建構（sinthomatic construction）實驗，我主張〈瑟爾西〉呈現拉岡晚期拓墣學中所討論的主體不斷消解與重組的過程，進而檢視特定聖狀建構是否產生新的主體結構和驅力組織。透過拉岡與齊傑克的理論，本文主張虛偽彌賽亞主義和受虐狂都不具備倫理潛力，兩者皆與藉由鄰人之愛所展現的真實彌賽亞主義相對。受拉岡倫理作為理論和巴迪厄鄰人區域論述啟發，本文闡釋真實彌賽亞主義將帶來嶄新的獨特共相與新生的鄰人區域。〈瑟爾西〉終結於鄰人之愛所致的病徵突破，藉此重寫、再製聖狀，並開展嶄新的互為主體關係。

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