4 December 2012
Discussed text: Levinas, "The Solitude of Being," Ethics and Infinity
Today’s lesson on jouissance reminded me of a poem I took up as a senior in high school. It’s entitled “The Road Not Taken” and it’s written by Robert Frost.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
We learned that the meaning of the term jouissance is to enjoy something that makes life worth living. It is finding pleasure in doing anything that enhances our zest for life. I remembered this poem because it’s about choosing the road less travelled with a little hesitance in the beginning but without any regrets in the end. It’s about enjoying the journey, taking time to love and live every step of the way. In the poem, as the persona is choosing which road to take, s/he only knows that one road is more travelled than the other but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the better road. S/he has to go through it to know, to find out. Sometimes the less popular choice is the better one because not everyone has to have the same wants and needs in life. Sometimes, the harder thing to do is the best thing to do because it pushes us to find what we really love to do and who we really are. Everyone just needs to learn how to live, how to be, needs to find his/her own happiness. Life is what you make it. Whatever choice you make in anything and everything you do, you have to stick by it and let yourself enjoy the experience.
The class was left with the question “Why do you think Levinas places jouissance after il y a?” for reflection. I found the answer to this question in the poem as the persona is choosing which road to take; s/he is in a state of “in between-ness” and confusion. S/he doesn’t know which road to take, which choice to make. THERE IS (Il y a) a choice to be made, but the persona is still unsure and stuck. It is when s/he takes action and goes down a road does s/he realize the beauty of his/her decision, once s/he has reaped what s/he has sown does the “Jouissance” come into play. “Jouissance” is a reaction to “Il y a” and I think Levinas placed the terms in such order because the former is the answer to the latter.
