The Triangle of Desire: Freud, Sidonie, and Lacan

Abstract

In The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book XX: Encore, Lacan (1975/1998b) continues to develop his theory of sexuation and expands the concept of jouissance by introducing a jouissance which exceeds the symbolic, a form of enjoyment accessible from the feminine position, and one that he described as ineffable, bordering on the mystical, and impossible. He calls this Other jouissance. This essay works from within this key Lacanian text to re-read the case of Sidonie Csillag, Freud’s patient in “The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman,” (Freud, 1920/1953) a case that served Lacan in his evolving theory of desire and the emergence of object a between 1957 and 1963. It makes use of the recent English language biography, The Story of Sidonie C., (Rieder & Voigt, 2021) to question Lacan’s reading of Sidonie, following from Freud’s original case, as a subject in the masculine position. Following the path of Gherovici (2010, 2024) and Allouch (2004), who triangulate Freud, Sidone, and Lacan, this paper revisits key concepts like the niederkommen in relation to Lacan’s claim that his teaching aims to detach the Other from object a. Building on Brousse’s (2012) insightful questioning, this paper argues for a reading of Sidonie in the feminine position, affirming Lacan’s insights about the locus of Other jouissance and contending with the limits of sexuation.

Keywords:

• sexuation Keyword: sexuation
• jouissance Keyword: jouissance
• femininity Keyword: femininity
• courtly love Keyword: courtly love
• Encore Keyword: Encore

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Rights: In Copyright