View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by D-Scholarship@Pitt SUBJECT/ABJECT/OBJECT: RECONFIGURING DESIRE IN CONTEMPORARY FRENCH CULTURAL PRODUCTION by Amy Elizabeth Romanowski BA, University of Utah, 2003 MA, University of Utah, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School or Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2013 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Amy Elizabeth Romanowski It was defended on March 28, 2013 and approved by Dr. Neil Doshi, Assistant Professor, French and Italian Dr. Nancy Glazener, Associate Professor, English Dr. Giuseppina Mecchia, Associate Professor, French and Italian Dr. David Pettersen, Assistant Professor, French and Italian Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Todd W. Reeser, Professor, French and Italian ii Copyright © by Amy E. Romanowski 2013 iii SUBJECT/ABJECT/OBJECT: RECONFIGURING DESIRE IN CONTEMPORARY FRENCH CULTURAL PRODUCTION Amy Romanowski, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2013 My study situates non-normative erotics, specifically frameworks of abjective lust for that which harms or disgusts us, as an orientation of queerness that extends gender theorist Eve K. Sedgwick's idea of nonce taxonomies. The definition of queerness, the positioning of non- normative sex acts and practices outside the realm of standard sexualities, has been expanded by Sedgwick into a sequence of individual, sexualized moments. Taking up this canonical idea in queer studies offers an additional configuration to Sedgwick's imaginings, positing that abjective and sadomasochistic desires expand conceptions of queerness to include more than the body- based notions of same-sex sexual acts or other non-normative sex acts. Informed by the theories of Julia Kristeva and Marcel Jouhandeau, my model of abjectivity insists that sexual attraction based on the pursuit of abjective properties situates queerness beyond the body, a non-normative sexual distinction that is unrestricted by object choice. I identify a series of abjective characters in twentieth-century French cultural production, including Tahar Ben Jelloun's novels L'Enfant de sable (1985) and La Nuit sacrée (1987), Jean Genet's book Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs (1942) and his play Le Balcon (1955), Georges Bataille's tale Madame Edwarda (1941), Marie Darrieussecq's novel Truismes (1996), Claude Chabrol's film La Cérémonie (1995), Virginie Despentes' and Coralie Trinh Thi's film Baise-moi (2000) iv and Alexandre Aja's film Haute Tension (2003). Working from the understanding that non-normative desire is the scaffolding for queerness, my dissertation examines abjection as the provocative motor for sexual desire. I analyze the works within this project through the lens of gender theorist Judith Butler, who claims that desire for the abjective self or object choice contributes to the solidified subjectivity of both the subject and the object. Desire thus interpellates the object, permitting its entry into the world of subjectivity. In response to relentless sexual pursuit based upon abjective qualities such as disfigured gender expression or self- loathing, each figure constructs a sense of self, understanding him/herself better through understanding what makes them erotic or desirable to others. I conclude that the lust for each figure initiates periods of self-exploration that constructs a sense of self-awareness in these characters. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................... x 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. SUBJECT/ABJECT/OBJECT: THE RELATIONSHIP OF SEXUALIZED ABJECTION TO SEXUALITY ................................................................................... 4 1.2. THEORIES OF DESIRE, GENDER, SEXUALITY AND SUBJECTIVITY ............ 5 1.3. ABJECTION: JOUHANDEAU ...................................................................................... 8 1.4. ABJECTION: KRISTEVA ........................................................................................... 14 1.5. ABJECT INTERVENTIONS ........................................................................................ 20 1.6. LAWBREAKERS: FOUCAULT'S THEORY OF QUEER RESISTANCE ............ 23 1.7. STRAIGHT QUEER THEORY ................................................................................... 26 1.8. QUEER DESIRE, QUEER SUBJECTS: THEORIES OF DESIRE AND SUBJECTIVITY ............................................................................................................ 28 1.9. CORPUS AND CHAPTER OUTLINE ........................................................................ 33 2.0 THE ABJECT, THE DEJECT AND THE SUBJECT IN BEN JELLOUN'S L'ENFANT DE SABLE AND LA NUIT SACREE ................................................................................... 42 2.1. THE BODY MOROCCAN ........................................................................................... 43 2.2. THE BODY AND MISOGYNY .................................................................................... 46 2.3. THE BODY ABJECT .................................................................................................... 47 2.3.1. The Abject Daughter ............................................................................................ 48 vi 2.3.2. The Deject Daughter ............................................................................................. 60 2.3.3. Pieces of Zahra ...................................................................................................... 69 2.3.4. The Abject Lover .................................................................................................. 74 2.4. ZAHRA DESIRES ......................................................................................................... 85 2.4.1. Disfigured Gender, Disfigured Sex .................................................................... 104 2.5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 107 3.0 ABJECT CHOICE AS OBJECT CHOICE: ANTI-SOCIAL SEXUAL REVOLUTION IN JEAN GENET'S NOTRE-DAME-DES-FLEURS AND LE BALCON ...................... 109 3.1. KRISTEVA IN GENET ............................................................................................... 114 3.2. THE ABSTRACT ABJECT, OR GENET VERSUS JOUHANDEAU ................... 115 3.3. PREVIOUS PURCHASES MADE IN GENET ........................................................ 118 3.4. COLLAGE OF CRIMES AND CRIMINALS .......................................................... 121 3.5. CRIMES OF LAW, SOCIETY AND GENDER ....................................................... 124 3.5.1. Friends on the Outside: Divine and Mignon .................................................... 130 3.5.2. Divine .................................................................................................................... 140 3.5.3. Abjection: All in the Family ............................................................................... 147 3.5.4. The Mother Divine .............................................................................................. 156 3.5.5. The Child Divine ................................................................................................. 158 3.5.6. Judge, Jury and Execution ................................................................................. 164 3.6. SUBVERSIVELY SEXUAL REVOLUTION AS VIEWED FROM LE BALCON ........................................................................................................................ 168 3.6.1. Crime and Punishment ....................................................................................... 171 3.6.2. The Hero and His Horse ..................................................................................... 183 3.6.3. Fleas and Filth ..................................................................................................... 190 vii 3.6.4. The Abject Heroine ............................................................................................. 191 3.6.5. A Reversal, and a Refusal, of Roles ................................................................... 193 3.7. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 201 4.0 FEAR AND (SELF)-LOATHING IN FRENCH CINEMA: THE CASE OF THE CRIME SPREE ................................................................................................................... 204 4.1. WHY FILMS? WHY THESE FILMS? .................................................................... 206 4.2. LESBIANS, ABJECTION AND RISK ...................................................................... 210 4.3. SECRETS AND SELF-LOATHING: LA CEREMONIE ......................................... 218 4.3.1. Illiteracy and Illegibility ..................................................................................... 223 4.3.2. The Literate Heroine .......................................................................................... 226 4.3.3. Abject Histories and the Sexualized Present .................................................... 230 4.3.4. "Elle est analphabète" .......................................................................................