Examen corrigé Université de Montréal Thèse numérique Papyrus ...

266essence of the missed encounter is the very moment when our attention is drawn by a lingeringresidue or a recurring symptom. This is doubtless the work of the Thing.And so the Thinga figure of manque and excess at the same timekeeps circulatingthe American Real in indefinite rounds of différance. The Thingalways a new thing orsomething newis the nodal point of the missed encounter. The Thing should always remainunnamed to guarantee the work of jouissance. However, the flood gates of jouissance seem to bebreaking loose when brought to the realm of différance. To understand this fantasy of jouissance,it is useful to consult Derrida’s theory of différance and, more importantly, Lacan’s theory ofdesire and Žižek’s reading of it. According to Lacan and Žižek, the subject’s desire nevercoincides with the object of desire. What we have is an exchange of positions, from subject toobject to indefinite. Instead of an encounter we have a fantasy of encountera fantasy that stagesa paradox at the heart of desire. This fantasy does not, however, stage the encounter orjouissance; rather, it is a mise en scène of the circuit of desire as it spirals around the Thing. InLacanian terms, America’s compulsion to devour the Thing, or rather new things, unfolds in thesymbolic economy of the missed encounteran economy that is beyond categorization. In fact,Lacanian economy of the Symbolic is the Thing. Like Lacan’s Thing, which is but a series oftranscendental things, the White Whale, the scarlet letter A are but things that index other thingsthat are outside the narrativethey all point to America through the detour of the archive andtropology. However, it is worth noting that the “I” and the “it”the Thingare collated. As Ihave argued throughout this dissertation, there is a chiastic relationship between the Real and the“I” that has eventually slid into the spiral movement of the abject.