Images of Bliss: Ejaculation, Masculinity, Meaning

363 Pages·2007·6.67 MB·English

by  Murat Aydemir

images of bliss
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Images
of Bliss
ejaculation
masculinity
meaning
Murat Aydemir
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University ofMinnesota Press
Minneapolis•London
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Copyright 2007 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
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Published by the University of Minnesota Press
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library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Aydemir, Murat.
Images of bliss : ejaculation, masculinity, meaning /
Murat Aydemir.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-8166-4866-5 (hc : alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-8166-4867-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Generative organs, Male—Philosophy. 2. Human
reproduction—Philosophy. 3. Ejaculation—Philosophy.
4. Penis—Philosophy. 5. Masculinity—Philosophy.
I. Title.
QP255.A93 2007
612.6´1—dc22 2006017450
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity
educator and employer.
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
“the human stain,”
she said, and without revulsion or contempt
or condemnation. Not even with sadness.
That’s how it is—in her own dry way, that is all
Faunia was telling the girl feeding the snake:
we leave a stain, we leave a trail, we leave
our imprint. Impurity, cruelty, abuse, error,
excrement, semen—there’s no other way
to be here. Nothing to do with disobedience.
Nothing to do with grace or salvation or
redemption. It’s in everyone. Indwelling.
Inherent. Defining. The stain that is there
before its mark. Without the sign it is there.
The stain so intrinsic it doesn’t require a mark.
That stain that precedes disobedience, that
encompasses disobedience and perplexes all
explanation and understanding. It’s why all the
cleansing is a joke. A barbaric joke at that.
The fantasy of purity is appalling. It’s insane.
What is the quest to purify, if not more impurity?
Philip Roth,The Human Stain, 2001
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contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
part one
history, art
1. Semen, Blood, Stars, and Ice: Serrano and Aristotle 3
Blood 4 •Squigglies and Claret 7•“As it were a deformed male” 9•
Why Semen Matters More 11•The Illustrated Aristotle, Part I 14•Stars 16•
Inconceivable 17 •Soiled White: Bataille 20•Graphic White: Derrida 22•
Baroque White: Bal 25•The Illustrated Aristotle, Part II 25•Ice 27•
The Illustrated Aristotle, Part III 29
part two
psychoanalysis
2. Image of the Vital Flow: Lacan 33
Noeud/Nous 35•The Name of the Phallus 36•The Story’s Setup 39•
Graphic Concatenation: When Phallus Meets Signifiable 41•Bastard
Offspring 44•The Magician and the Veil 46•Shame as Awkward
Self-Reflexivity 49
3.Anamorphosis / Metamorphosis: Ambassadors 52
Delicious Game 53•Cool Men 56•Twin Ambassadors 62•Spot the
Differences: Embarrassing Embrasse 64•Man in Black: Melancholia
and Empire 66
4. The Parting Veil: Angel in the Flesh 70
The Specter Haunting Male Morphology 73•Othering the Body:
A Comedy 76• The Deictic Veil and the Phallus/Penis 79•
Every Temptation 82•Smile and Breast: Double-Crossing Gender 84
part three
pornography
5.Significant Discharge: The Cum Shot and Narrativity 93
Introducing the Cum Shot 95•Justine: “I can’t believe you just came” 97•
The Climax ofInvoluntary Spasm 102•“I was not finished” 107•
Return and Repetition 109
6.Levering Ejaculation 113
Porn as Opera or Musical 115•Va(s)cillation 117•Abjection 121•Staining the
Image 123•Hand 127•“Lass es gehen” 130•Coda: Female Ejaculation 134
7.“Now Take One of Me As I Come”: Pornographic Realities 135
Hard Core 138•Mundane Details: Reality-Effect 141•Sexual Theatrics 144•
The Meaning of Moustaches: Verisimilitude 149•Bazzo’s Escape 151
part four
theory
8. The Suspense and Suspension of Bliss: Barthes 159
Connoisseur 161•Taking One’s Pleasure 165•Being Taken by Bliss 168•
The Certain Body 170•From Suspense to Suspension: Tumbling or Freezing
Narrative 172•Upstaging the Father 176•Wandering Seeds 180
9. Dissimulating the Supreme Spasm: Derrida 183
Trance 184•Lucky Word 186• Masculinity: Desire and Hysteria 188•
Supreme Spasm 195•Semen as Pharmakon 200•Singular Plural 204•
The Sperm’s Tail as Supplement 206•Closing Opening 208
10. Anxiety and Intimacy of Expenditure: Bataille 211
Hostile Expenditures between Men 217•Globular Droplets 221•
Male Guinea Pigs 225•Intimacy ofExpenditure 228•The Eye of
the Story 233•Draining Masculinity 237•Concepts ofEjaculation 243
part five
literature
11. Misplaced Thigh: Proust 249
Beginnings 249•Adam’s Rib 252•Jupiter’s Thigh 254•From Wet Dream
to Bad Dream 255
12. Gossamer Thread 258
“Gosh, gosh, gosh, gosh!” 259•Natural Trail 262•Solitary Pleasure 265•
Gaze 268 •The Lilac 271 •Silvery Trace 273
13. A Few Drops That Express All 277
Adolphe 279•Norpois 281•Men in Cubicles 283•Behind the
Curtain with Swann 287•Re-searching Masculinity 288
Epilogue: Forcing the Issue 290
Color 291•Scale 292•Plane 293•Temporality 294•Part/Whole 295•
Opposition/Entanglement 295•Conception/Inconceivable 296•
Imminent/Immanent 297•Graphic 297
Notes 299
Bibliography 321
Index 329