L'imposture perverse

by Serge André

Céline, Genet, Sade, Mishima, Jouhandeau, Adamov…, ces écrivains illustres réalisent, dans la construction de leur œuvre aussi bien que dans leur vie, ce qu’est la position perverse. Au-delà de ses manifestations externes, celle-ci consiste en un véritable engagement. Engagement, voire revendication d’un rapport singulier au désir, à l’autre, à la jouissance et au plaisir. Dany, Blaise, Rose, Violette, Marc, Philippe et Charles, qui ont voulu me confier leur parole la plus intime au long de l’aventure psychanalytique, témoignent eux aussi de ce virage par lequel la souffrance devient source d’une démonstration. Démonstration de ce que la perversion, quelle qu’elle soit, constitue l’une des trois façons pour le sujet humain de trouver une solution à son existence : névrose, psychose ou perversion. Se laisser interroger par leur discours implique d’être soi-même pris à partie au point le plus radical. Comment désirons-nous ? Osons-nous jouir ? Savons-nous ce qu’est le plaisir ? Et toutes les autres questions que nous recouvrons habituellement de nos préjugés et de notre croyance en une normalité. Face au pervers, le psychanalyste est particulièrement exposé à se trouver ainsi soumis à la question et confronté au fantasme qui, comme tout un chacun, le dirige. Qu’il le sache est peut-être un progrès. Peut-être. La dérive pathétique d’un Ferenczi prouve, en tout cas, que ne pas le savoir peut mener loin. Mais, après tout, que désire le psychanalyste ? S.A.Serge André, psychanalyste à Bruxelles, membre de l’École de la cause freudienne, a publié précédemment Que veut une femme ?

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 1993

About the author

Psychanalyste et ecrivain à Bruxelles, membre de l'École de la cause freudienne et de l’École belge de psychanalyse. Il a publié notamment L’Imposture perverse, (1993) aux Éditions du Seuil.

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's really nice about this book is it's a book written by a psychoanalyst on his own clinical practice. The first chapter is the best one. Deals with the connection between the psychoanalyst and the Sadian master (insofar as he tries to split the subject between language and jouissance; so the Sadian master will not stop tormenting his victim as long as she hasn't said "everything", and Sade himself was possessed by the drive to say it "all", while knowing full well it was impossible, and this predicament gives his work their monotony and stupendous proportions), the analyst's desire (in the objective and subjective senses), the extent to which Ferenczi was a complete nutcase for trying to "empathize" with his patients, a desire which itself sprang from his failed attempt at making Freud suffer from his own suffering as his analysand, and therefore from what he perceived as Freud's refusal to play the part of the mother hurt by her cruel child. In the middle of all this, there is the tale of two case histories (Dany's and Blaise's), which outline masterfully the structure of perversion, in which desire is perceived as a law to be followed or exacted at the expense of the subject if it needs be, while also dwelling on the fundamental differences between the pervert's relationship to analyst and the neurotic's: the pervert casts the analyst in the position of the subject-supposed-to-enjoy (ie to enjoy the fantasies of the analysand) while the neurotic quite naturallu casts him in that of the proverbial subject-supposed-to-know. All of this is quite clear and well written.

The next chapter depicts two case histories of lesbian patients, one of whom is a pervert and the other a neurotic. They are also a couple but don't say that to the analyst before he takes them as his patients, thereby trying to "fool" the Other to begin with. The pervert lesbian sees herself as having the "real" phallus insofar as she is able to make women enjoy sex more than men with their vulnerable, flaccid, useless little organ. There is a discussion of why perversion is more of a masculine phenomenon than a feminine one. That would be because the boy who discovers the girl lacks something has to fill that gap (that can lead up to fetishism) while that problem doesn't show up with the girl (because the boy has something already), even though other issues might come up and questions be asked regarding the female's discovery of the penis (as to: thinking of it as "dead" when it is flaccid and "alive" during the erection). So in this light it makes sense the pervert lesbian would actually think of herself as a sort of super- man i.e. the one who has the phallus, which, as we know, is not (and much more than) just the stupid penis.

Then the third chapter deals (much more extensively) with male homosexuality. The first case history is incredible (the stuff with the drain... you'll see). Looks like one of Freud's with its detective story character. There's a long historical digression about when and why male homosexuality has started to be seen in such a bad light. But then what André is really up to is a discussion of what it means to become and define oneself as a man in the absence of reference to the woman. The general picture is that of a kid who's been cast in the role of the phallus by the mother (to wit, he is the phallus, but doesn't have it) while the father is exceptionally missing (he doesn't have it). Long discussions of literature follow (Genet, Mishima, Jouhandeau). Not all of them are interesting.

Then the fourth chapter is about mania. The best thing about it is André's comment on the connection between "causer" in French as in: talk, banter and: to initiate, cause, trigger (a chain of events). The maniac fails to see himself as a cause (of the other's desire). And that sends him off his panic attacks and logorrhea. He is also obsessed with exposing the deceitfulness of appearances. Happily, the case history in this chapter ends pretty well (the pervert finally faces castration in a sort of SM relationship with his boss and stops panicking).

Finally there's a pretty good chapter on Céline. The literary commentaries are extremely compelling. Again we have the case of a pervert willing the expose the deceitfulness of appearances. We have the connection between phallus and death, and a father deprived of the phallus, which means that the Nom-du-Père becomes actually the Name-of-the-Mother, with no barrier against her destructive Jouissance. Hence Céline's obsession with saving his mother tongue from rot and death, in a desperate attempt to restore the phallus of the mother (her rotten wooden leg in Mort à crédit, which is counterbalanced with Céline's erotic desire for dancers).

I didn't take notes or anything, and read it in just a few days like a novel. It does read like kind of a novel. And having read Kristeva's pages on Céline a few weeks ago (from Powers of Horror) I find André's analysis MUCH less bullshitty and way clearer.