I recently came across a zoom discussion that has lit something of a fire under my ass about writing. If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of erotic writing, of transgression in fiction, and the mechanisms of eliciting jouissance in the reader, I highly recommend you take a look at this. It’s produced by the Lacan Circle of Australia. The author is Tim Themi, in conversation with Russell Grieg. He’s just published a book called ‘Eroticizing the Aesthetic: In the Real with Bataille and Lacan.’ Don’t let some of the vocabulary put you off. Yes, some of it is couched in the language of psychoanalysis, referring to Freudian and Lacanian theory that might sound like gibberish if you aren’t acquainted with this field of study, but it is very much worth watching anyway, and don’t skip the questions and discussions at the end. They’re meaty and exciting.
You register at the bottom with an email and it gives you a link to the talk. I’ve registered for a lot of talks on the same site and they don’t seem to abuse or sell your info.
One of the most important things I took away from the talk was that art (writing, visual, etc.) is exactly the place where transgression should live in our society. Not in politics. Not in government. Not in civic life. And one way I think we can push back against that encroachment of the transgressive into our civic life is by putting it back into our cultural life, and pushing back against those cultural institutions that demand political correctness and ethics in all the wrong places. Perhaps because they feel so powerless to impose it in the places where it should be, like our systems of law, of education, of government?
This has also inspired in me a real desire to speak with other writers, to discuss and discover how to get transgression back into our art. To examine what even constitutes transgression and taboo anymore, to think about what function it serves, to share our ideas on how to trigger real jouissance in our readers, instead of relying on burnt-out cliches which have lost their ability to the shock of the truly erotic.
So, I’m thinking about starting a zoom workshop, that perhaps could be turned into a re-occurring thing, where we brainstorm, try out ideas on each other, expand our ideas on what can be transgressive, our ethical concerns, etc.
If you are at all interested in this, please leave a comment below, or tweet me on twitter @remittancegirl.
Hello, yes. I am a trauma therapist and really interested in writing, transgression, erotica, sadism and more. I am launching, later today, a website where I can put some of my work up to be seen.
Dear Remittance Girl,
I have long been an admirer of your work, yet only now that I am deep into Tim Themi’s lectures (following your suggestion) am I getting an inkling of why it stirs me so deeply. I am a writer and have published a memoir, but my forays into erotica have–with one exception for a private patron–been reserved so far for the enjoyment of my partner and me.
I am incredibly keen on discussing how to produce jouissance in readers along with the political implications of transgression. Your 2015 talk on that subject at Eroticon was truly electrifying. I look forward to hearing from you about the possibility of a Zoom discussion–or just because.
All the best,
Dawn
This is fascinating. Your stories have brought me such healing. I’ve never thought to examine this but I would love to do so as I’m starting to do my toes in the waters of resistance.
Hello, I’ve long been a reader of your work – perhaps since when I was too young to read it honestly, and I’d be interested in this, if it’s not too late!
Rules are there for a reason, to love. They protect people from one another, ideally in a loving way. But when it comes to sex, they aren’t rational or loving.
For example, many American states set the age of consent at 18 while teaching 12-year-olds to have sex in state-supported schools. We Americans have 100,000 homeless children. If any man tries to help one, he’s accused of being a pedophile. If any adult helps them, they can be convicted of kidnapping.
IMO, transgression belongs first in public discourse. We need to, as a society, decide what should be illegal and what shouldn’t.
Public discourse on consensual fetishes such as rape play is shut down despite 2/3s of adults having these fantasies. 30-50% of step-fathers have illegal sex with their stepdaughters because incest is taboo.
At some point, what we do should start to be reflected in the laws. And that won’t happen unless transgression is brought into the public sphere.
As Christians, we are called to love one another. All the rules about sex were supposed to be in support of that goal. But they don’t support that goal. Our children are starving and we are too afraid to speak.
Hi RG, I love reading your writing for that very reason that it transcends societal norms, makes me look at life through a different lense.
You are right in saying transgressions should live in the world of creative as that is one of the only places we can get out of our usual shackles… but like in times of old…we’ve become a society that burns witches albeit not literally, but definitely in the online world…. where any other thought process other then what is deemed safe is acceptable is shunned… we’re a people that thinks that thought and words ultimately leads to action hence nip it in the bud and stop its spread before it becomes “dangerous” … a fearful world that in the process limits the reach of the mind so that it may not wander into a forbidden path.
I don’t know when or if we can go back to a world where art that is admired is not simply reflecting the ideal instead of being something that cal also depict our failings and darkness as well since it is a part of being human.
Please do send me an invite if you are holding a session. I’m interested in the topic
Hi. I just had a laugh and a little excitement when I read one of your shorts, here as I’m doing some research for my new podcast idea. I want to read listeners erotic real life stories and erotic fiction in a podcast with ASMR content as well, and I wonder if you would enjoy having me read your stories. It will of course be with link to your website or a place they can buy your writings.