In this project, I examine the relationship between female masochism, performance, and spectatorship in Michael Haneke’s film La Pianiste (2001). The film stages a relationship to sexuality that structures the subject’s excruciating negotiations with the other as always mediated by the law, the letter, or the body as instrument, which is allegorized by the protagonist’s occupation as a piano teacher. In my analysis, I identify the ways in which the film paradoxically offers a critique of mediation’s effect on the feminine position while encouraging viewers to confront the possibility that desire is only possible through these mediations. Contributing to feminist theory and psychoanalytic film theory, I foreground the way in which the film’s complex portrayal of female masochism produces indeterminacy via masochistic spectatorship. Ultimately, I argue that the unmarked position of feminine masochism, which is historically, psychoanalytically, and literarily reserved for male subjects, challenges the spectator to take enjoyment into account when approaching mediations of violence and sexuality.

La douleur est désagréable. Étant donné que la douleur est l'exemple paradigmatique d'une expérience désagréable, mon but est de clarifier ce qui caractérise la douleur et le caractère désagréable. J’essaie notamment de comprendre ce que peut signifier qu’une douleur soit désagréable et ainsi d’élucider la structure des expériences désagréables. Ce faisant, j’aborde plusieurs aspects problématiques de la relation entre la douleur et le caractère désagréable des expériences. Je fournis également une compréhension générale de ce que signifie pour une expérience non nécessairement douloureuse d’être désagréable. Cette thèse s’organise en sept chapitres correspondant à trois problématiques principales : i) qu’est-ce qui constitue le caractère désagréable de la douleur ? (Chapitres 1 & 2), ii) comment rendre compte de la grande diversité phénoménale du caractère désagréable des expériences ? (Chapitres 3 & 4), et iii) dans quels cas la douleur n’est-elle pas désagréable ? (Chapitres 5 & 6). Dans le dernier chapitre (Chapitre 7), j'offre une réponse générale aux trois problématiques principales en proposant ma propre théorie sur le caractère désagréable de la douleur. D’après cette théorie, une expérience désagréable est une expérience ressentie, le caractère désagréable est défini comme une propriété phénoménale des états mentaux, et cette propriété doit être comprise en utilisant la distinction déterminable-déterminant. Mon travail fournit ainsi une compréhension détaillée de la nature de la douleur et du caractère désagréable. / Pain is unpleasant. Given that pain is the paradigmatic example of an unpleasant experience, I aim to shed light on what pain and unpleasantness are by trying to understand what it means for a pain to be unpleasant, what the structure of unpleasantness is, and by tackling several problematic aspects of the relation between pain and unpleasantness. By doing this, I will also provide a general account of what it means for an experience that might not be a pain to be unpleasant.The thesis is organised into seven chapters and divided by three main themes: i) what the unpleasantness of pain consists in, ii) how we can account for the great phenomenal diversity among experiences of unpleasantness, and iii) which cases suggest that there could be pains that are not unpleasant. Broadly, the first two chapters deal with the first theme, the third and fourth chapter with the second theme, and the fifth and sixth chapter focus on the third theme. In the final chapter I offer a conclusion of the three main themes by providing my own view on the unpleasantness of pain. According to this account, an unpleasant experience is something felt, it is a phenomenal property of mental states, and this property should be understood using the determinable-determinate distinction. By doing all of this, this thesis will provide a detailed understanding of the nature of pain and unpleasantness.

Often overlooked in the study of nineteenth-century American literature, the New England writer Rose Terry Cooke elicited great popular appeal during the peak of her career. The admiration Cooke received from her readers and fellow writers compels one to question Cooke’s present-day obscurity. Cooke’s fiction and poetry seem inconsistent with the attitudes she express in her non-fiction, particularly concerning religion and women’s suffrage. She portrays women in miserable marriages, desperately looking for an escape. These “brides of Bluebeard” find different ways to cope with their predicament. While most never truly escape, many use (1) religious devotion, (2) masochism, and (3) homosocial relations as “coping mechanisms” in their plight. I identify each of these reactions to Bluebeard figures in Cooke’s writing in order to understand the contradictions in her works, for, like Cooke, these brides were products of their culture, torn between duty to self and duty to others.

Ce mémoire propose une réflexion psychanalytique à partir de L'Âge d'homme et de L'Afrique fantôme de Michel Leiris. Il y est montré que la notion freudienne de scène primitive sert de paradigme à l'écriture autobiographique de cet auteur. Cette étude commence par approfondir les récits de rêves dans ces textes. Il s'agit d'emprunter la voie royale vers l'inconscient. Le moi du narrateur adopte une position masochiste devant des femmes phalliques dont il s'éprend. C'est ce qui le fait basculer dans la passion postcourtoise, notion développée par Paul-Laurent Assoun. La Dame se substitue à l'objet perdu et se présente comme une Judith meurtrière. Les nombreuses identifications du narrateur avec des personnages légendaires nous permettent de transposer son existence à l'intérieur d'une mythologie personnelle. L'analyse de ces fantaisies d'identification avec des modèles masculins révèle le sadisme de son surmoi. À Gondar, l'auteur tombe amoureux d'Emawayish, une sorcière éthiopienne, qui devient son double idéal de Lucrèce et Judith. Cette relation amoureuse répète inconsciemment la structure du complexe d'Œdipe. L'Âge d'homme apparaît comme une recherche du corps maternel et l'écriture autobiographique devient le moyen de remédier au sentiment mélancolique de perte d'objet d'amour. / This thesis is a psychoanalytical development based on the books L'Âge d'homme and L'Afrique fantôme by the French writer Michel Leiris. The purpose is to show that the Freudian notion of primitive scene is used as a paradigm for self-exploration and analysis through autobiographical writing. This study begins by detailing the stories of dreams retold by the author in his works. Thus, Leiris is traveling on the royal road that will take him to his unconscious mind. The ego of the narrator adopts a masochist approach to the phallic women he falls in love with. He then shifts to what is called « postcourtoise passion », a concept developed by Paul-Laurent Assoun. The Lady (La Dame) replaces the « lost object » and is transformed into the murderous Judith. The many identifications of the narrator with legendary figures allow us to read his existence through his personal mythology. Upon analysis, these identity fantasies of the author with male models are an indication of the sadism of his superego. In Gondar, the author falls in love with Emawayish, an Ethiopian sorceress who becomes the perfect double of Lucrèce and Judith. This love relationship unconsciously reveals the structure of the Oedipus complex. L’Âge d’homme can be seen as the quest of a man for the maternal body. The experience of self-exploration and analysis writing can be seen as the means to cure the melancholy generated by the loss of the loved object.

A presente dissertação visa fazer um recorte sobre a constituição do sujeito a partir do masoquismo erógeno e os seus desdobramentos. A afirmativa de Freud em 1923 que seria a partir do masoquismo erógeno que poderíamos ter o testemunho do momento mítico da fusão entre pulsão de vida e pulsão de morte, revela uma articulação importante entre o masoquismo e a constituição do sujeito. O masoquismo passa ser uma fonte privilegiada para compreender aquilo que temos de mais arcaico na vida psíquica. A metodologia utilizada nesse estudo foi uma pesquisa bibliográfica histórica conceitual da obra freudiana. A releitura que Lacan promove sobre os escritos de Freud serviram para auxiliar em um aprofundamento sobre o tema em questão. Apesar do masoquismo erógeno ser um conceito introduzido apenas após a descoberta do conceito de pulsão de morte em 1920, partiremos do início da elaboração da teoria pulsional de Freud em 1905. Isto porque esse estudo, ao investigar o percurso freudiano demonstrou que os conceitos na psicanálise são conceitos construídos através da experiência clínica e que, portanto, surgem com enigmas que com tempo vão assumindo um contorno teórico mais elaborado. Desde os Três ensaios sobre a teoria da sexualidade (1902/2006c), ao conceituar sobre o masoquismo, Freud aponta para enigmas que apenas em 1920 puderam ser mais elucidados. Os conceitos de sexualidade perverso-polimorfa, pulsão sado-masoquista e fantasia masoquista contribuíram para pensarmos em um alargamento da noção de masoquismo possibilitando a flexibilização desse termo para além de uma visão moralista que ao classificar como uma perversão sexual busca a sua patologização / The main objective of this dissertation is to rethink how the subjects constitute themselves through the concept of erogenous masochism. Freudian statement (1923) that the erogenous masochism was a witness of the early moments where there was a fusion between life drive and the death drive reveals the straight bond between the notion of masochism and emergency of the subjects in the psychoanalytical theory. Therefore, masochism is a privileged source for the understanding of ancient aspects of mental life onset. The methodology used through this research was a conceptual-historic bibliographic investigation of the complete works of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalyses. Lacans interpretation of the Freudians writings contributes to this discussion. This research starts at 1905 with the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, even though Freud only mentions erogenous masochism after he elaborates the notion of the existence of a death drive. The importance of showing the whole process in which Freud would build the psychoanalytical concepts is to demonstrate that they were forged through the psychoanalytical practice, and that at the beginning it presents itself as an enigma and with time it acquires more consistence. Since Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud raised important questions about masochism that were only better understood after 1920. Concepts such as perverse polymorph sexuality, sadomasochism and Fantasy help to acknowledge an enlargement of this notion in the psychoanalyses theory. Hence, allowing a new understanding in the concept of masochism other then the moralist version that sees it as pathology.

A presente dissertação visa fazer um recorte sobre a constituição do sujeito a partir do masoquismo erógeno e os seus desdobramentos. A afirmativa de Freud em 1923 que seria a partir do masoquismo erógeno que poderíamos ter o testemunho do momento mítico da fusão entre pulsão de vida e pulsão de morte, revela uma articulação importante entre o masoquismo e a constituição do sujeito. O masoquismo passa ser uma fonte privilegiada para compreender aquilo que temos de mais arcaico na vida psíquica. A metodologia utilizada nesse estudo foi uma pesquisa bibliográfica histórica conceitual da obra freudiana. A releitura que Lacan promove sobre os escritos de Freud serviram para auxiliar em um aprofundamento sobre o tema em questão. Apesar do masoquismo erógeno ser um conceito introduzido apenas após a descoberta do conceito de pulsão de morte em 1920, partiremos do início da elaboração da teoria pulsional de Freud em 1905. Isto porque esse estudo, ao investigar o percurso freudiano demonstrou que os conceitos na psicanálise são conceitos construídos através da experiência clínica e que, portanto, surgem com enigmas que com tempo vão assumindo um contorno teórico mais elaborado. Desde os Três ensaios sobre a teoria da sexualidade (1902/2006c), ao conceituar sobre o masoquismo, Freud aponta para enigmas que apenas em 1920 puderam ser mais elucidados. Os conceitos de sexualidade perverso-polimorfa, pulsão sado-masoquista e fantasia masoquista contribuíram para pensarmos em um alargamento da noção de masoquismo possibilitando a flexibilização desse termo para além de uma visão moralista que ao classificar como uma perversão sexual busca a sua patologização / The main objective of this dissertation is to rethink how the subjects constitute themselves through the concept of erogenous masochism. Freudian statement (1923) that the erogenous masochism was a witness of the early moments where there was a fusion between life drive and the death drive reveals the straight bond between the notion of masochism and emergency of the subjects in the psychoanalytical theory. Therefore, masochism is a privileged source for the understanding of ancient aspects of mental life onset. The methodology used through this research was a conceptual-historic bibliographic investigation of the complete works of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalyses. Lacans interpretation of the Freudians writings contributes to this discussion. This research starts at 1905 with the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, even though Freud only mentions erogenous masochism after he elaborates the notion of the existence of a death drive. The importance of showing the whole process in which Freud would build the psychoanalytical concepts is to demonstrate that they were forged through the psychoanalytical practice, and that at the beginning it presents itself as an enigma and with time it acquires more consistence. Since Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud raised important questions about masochism that were only better understood after 1920. Concepts such as perverse polymorph sexuality, sadomasochism and Fantasy help to acknowledge an enlargement of this notion in the psychoanalyses theory. Hence, allowing a new understanding in the concept of masochism other then the moralist version that sees it as pathology.

While we can easily acknowledge that many aspects the texts written by Chrétien de Troyes have been studied and discussed through the centuries, it is always possible to apply a new reading to the author's work. Like many authors of the same time period, the author of Le Conte du graal and LeChevalier de la charrette was not only writing for the audience of his time but was also openly targeting an audience set in a different century and social context. This timeless aspect of Chrétien's work is part of what makes his texts intricate and still relevant to this day. It also allows us to understand the impact they had by the time they were written as well as the long lasting interest that has been keeping them current throughout eight centuries. While the courteous aspect of these texts seems to be mostly relevant to the audience of a certain time period it is possible for us to conduct a psychoanalytical reading of Chrétien's work in order to appreciate the long- lasting qualities of these tales almost eight hundred years later. By using the drive theory established by Freud along with the work of Lacan based on search for the I, studies which were both established during the twentieth century, we will analyze the untold motivations of the quest and define the relationship between the knight and his physical and inner journey. In this study we will consistently question these motivations. In order to understand them we will first discuss the implications of the quest in a set medieval context which will then lead us to look at this behavior outside of this timeframe in order to focus on the psychological elements of these texts.

Introduction. The aim of this thesis is to examine information practices among erotic minorities in Sweden in 1975–1995. These minorities include among others sadomasochists, fetishists and transvestites. The survey moves within the subculture that existed around deviating sexual practices. The center of the survey is the association Club Sunrise who organized erotic minorities, where the majority of the members had a mainly heterosexual orientation.  Method. Sixteen semi-structured interviews have been carried out with people active in the Swedish subculture during the studied period. The empirical data also consists of the Club Sunrise member magazine SMART. The author also had access to material from other media, in which the members participated. Analysis. The material has been analyzed based on J. Tuomas Harvianien’s concept of embodied information literacy and Elfreda A. Chatman’s four critical concepts that serve as the basis for defining an impoverished life-world: risk-taking, secrecy, deception and situational relevance.  Results. People belonging to various erotic minorities have used all four of Chatman’s critical concepts, with an emphasis on secrecy and deception. They also obtained information through embodied literacy. In addition to these results, the investigation also resulted in a mapping of various associations and venues that existed in Sweden before 1995. Conclusion. Erotic minorities in Sweden 1975–1995 were in a state of information poverty. However, they have not suffered from any information poverty in their lives as a whole, but it has been expressed in their belonging to an erotic minority. To get in touch with like-minded, without revealing their secrets to outsiders, they used different concepts of secrecy and deception. They also found and identified each other through secret signs and symbols, special clothing or ways of behaving. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

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Dans la Recherche du temps perdu, toute relation filiale est une relation où le fils fait inévitablement souffrir sa mère en commettant, selon Proust, une forme de parricide. La lecture des œuvres pré-Recherche de l’auteur, telles la nouvelle « La confession d’une jeune fille » et l’article « Sentiments filiaux d’un parricide » permettent de comprendre cette relation ambigüe, au cœur de laquelle se trouve l’amour incommensurable que ressent le fils pour le parent, un amour si intense qu’il en est étouffant. Dans ces conditions, le parent en vient à symboliser aux yeux de l’enfant la Loi contre laquelle il doit se rebeller à coup de gestes de cruauté. Le fils, s’il est de ceux qui peuvent soutenir la vue de leurs crimes, entre alors dans un cercle vicieux : par sa cruauté, il tue – symboliquement ou réellement – le parent aimé et il en jouit. Suite à ce sadisme, il ressent une insupportable culpabilité qui le mène à une dévotion masochiste encore plus grande pour son parent. Or, par le personnage du narrateur de la Recherche du temps perdu, Proust démontre que la seule manière de se libérer de cette douloureuse culpabilité, c’est l’Art. Le crime ultime qu’est la création excuse les actes de cruauté antérieurs et les justifie même. C’est la seule manière de transformer la souffrance vécue (issue entre autres de la culpabilité d’avoir pris plaisir à faire souffrir un parent aimé) en idées universelles, en œuvre d’art. / In A la recherche du temps perdu, every filial relationship is one where the son inevitably causes his mother suffering by committing, according to Proust, a form of parricide. The writings of Marcel Proust before la Recherche, such as the short story “A young girl’s confession” and the newspaper article “Filial sentiments of a parricide”, allow us to understand this ambiguous relationship, at the heart of which we can find the unmeasured love that the son feels for his parent, a love so intense that it soon becomes suffocating. Under these conditions, the parent comes to symbolize to the child “the moral Law” against which he must rebel, choosing cruelty as his weapon. The son, if he is one of those who can stand the sight of their own crimes, enters then in a vicious cycle: with his daily acts of cruelty, he kills – symbolically or in genuinely – the beloved parent, and he enjoys it. Following this act of sadism, he feels an unbearable guilt that leads him to an even greater masochistic devotion for his parent. Yet, through the character of the narrator of la Recherche, Proust demonstrates that there is indeed one way to free oneself from this painful guilt, and it is through Art. Creation, the ultimate crime, excuses and even justifies any previous acts of cruelty. It is the only way of transforming suffering (resulting among other things, from the guilt of having enjoyed causing a beloved parent any kind of suffering) into universal ideas, into art.