by Julien Quackelbeen | Vol 21 (1) 2003
In this paper some clinical fragments are presented to illustrate the delicate relationship between initial diagnostic assessment and the phenomenology that becomes visible through the gradual unfolding of an analytic cure. Examples of gerontophilia, apparently extreme narcissism, fetishism, and frotteurism illustrate that a theoretical diagnosis of perversion is far from straightforward. A cure, which is carried out thoroughly and which is faithful to its own dynamics, requires careful handling of hypothetical psychodiagnostic categories, even psychoanalytically inspired ones. Perverse onsets or perverse traits are not necessarily indications of a perverse structure.
by Julien Quackelbeen | Vol 21 (3/4) 2003
Referring to the evolution of the psychoanalytic conception of trauma the author considers, based on clinical fragments, three questions with which we are confronted in the clinic of trauma. The first fragment about a trauma of incest, which was initially dealt with within the family in a sensitive and appropriate manner, raises the question of the impact of speech on trauma where it concerns laypeople. It can be argued that the consequences of this kind of speech can be equally as disastrous as those of stubborn silence or a prohibition to speak. Using a second fragment attention is drawn to the role of the phantasma. A third fragment illustrates the trans-generational transmission of a trauma. Some considerations concerning the traumatic neuroses and the trauma of birth conclude this paper.
by Julien Quackelbeen | Vol 29 (1/2) 2011
This paper is a reflection on the, at times, odd inversion of the joke. Its power does not just apply to the one who hears it, but also to the one who produces it. Those who deny the proper implication of this have missed the point of what Freud intends with his small book on the Joke.
by Julien Quackelbeen | Vol 23 (3/4) 2005
In this paper the author revisits Mishima’s L’école de la chair (1993) through an explorative questioning of the Japanese writer with respect to the structure of perversion. Rather than starting from an a priori formulated theory on perversion, Mishima’s work is read in an open way that results in a series of themes. In addition to the opposites characteristic of Mishima’s oeuvre, the following themes emerge: the educational drive; the psychological insight; the knowledge and the use of this knowledge in eroticism and love; homosexual eroticism; the contract; the jouissance; contempt and humiliation; and fantasy. L’ecole de la chair teaches us about perversion, especially with respect to the educational drive, that is when the latter serves other than strictly educational aims, such as humiliation. Finally, the author considers some aspects of C. Millot’s Gide, Genet, Mishima, Intelligence de la perversion (1996).
by Julien Quackelbeen | Vol 28 (1/2) 2010
This comment on Werner Herzog’s film “Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle” (1974) deals with the enigma of Kasper Hauser’s origins, with the precarious status of the body and with his introduction into language. This is related to the problem of becoming a subject. The question arises as to what in this becoming constitutes the first and necessary anchoring point: what is the necessary condition for becoming a human subject?
