From erotic to obscene: A phenomenological and psychoanalytic study based on French tales by George Bataille and Isidore Ducasse

Philosophers such as Foucault have argued that our modern society has undergone a drastic change regarding sexuality. Morality has less to do today with repression than with an obligation to experience pleasure. This shift – that of a society that once overly hid intimacy to one that openly displays it – leads us to question the way in which sexuality is represented and more specifically to analyze two of its main forms: obscenity and eroticism. We use Freud and Lacan's views on the sex drive, regarding particularly the pleasure principle and what lies beyond it, to question whether there is a logical difference between these two terms. We choose to explore this by taking renowned literature as examples, most particularly that of Bataille and Ducasse (known as Lautreamont). Our methodology is based on the assumption, brought forward by Freud and later by Lacan, that the artist often proceeds the analyst. Also, by choosing to explore literature, we put aside any effect that can be the result of visual stimuli, as with videos. Therefore, we aim to explore the difference between obscenity and eroticism in order to clarify whether these two terms are only separated on moral and normative grounds – meaning that they completely vary in relation to the social and historical context – or if there is a more structural differentiation between the two. We find this question important because of the major transformation our society has been undergoing for the past several decades regarding the way it treats and represents sexuality. We are convinced that the personal and collective level are interrelated, meaning that the images a society produces – not only visual but also imaginary through the use of language – shapes the subject's inner experience. Our study shows that obscenity and eroticism actually share a common ground, they appear to be on a continuum. Nevertheless, they also differentiate by several terms. Mainly, eroticism deals with longing in order to create desire, whereas obscenity is an overflow of pleasure that leads to repulsion or indifference. From a psychoanalytical perspective, eroticism presupposes a structuring lack linked to desire and subjectivation, while obscenity involves an excess of jouissance that alienates the subject, particularly in a hypermodern society where intimacy becomes a commodity. Obscenity and eroticism are therefore feelings described by a logic of sensation, questioning the relationship between subject, object and culture. This reflection invites psychologists and thinkers to question the link between subjectivity, culture and contemporary techniques of the self, in a world saturated with stimuli but still shot through with anxiety and inhibition.