Jouissance is a French term which translated means "enjoyment" and contrasted with plaisir. In every sense of the word it is whatever "gets you off". Something that gives the subject a way out of its normative subjectivity through transcendent bliss whether that bliss or orgasmic rapture be found in texts, films, works of art or sexual spheres; excess as opposed to utility. It is a popular term in postmodernism and queer theory used by Roland Barthes, Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, and others. Leo Bersani considers jouissance as intrinsicly self-shattering, disruptive of a 'coherent self'. See subject (grammar) for the linguistic definition of subject. ... Jump to: navigation, search In philosophy, normative is usually contrasted with descriptive or explanatory when describing types of theories, beliefs, or statements. ... Transcendental in philosophical contexts In philosophy, transcendental experiences are experiences of an exclusively human nature that are other-worldly or beyond the human realm of understanding. ... Look up bliss in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An orgasm, also known as a sexual climax, is a pleasurable psychological or emotional response to prolonged sexual stimulation. ... This article is about the use of the term in Christian eschatology, primarily in US Protestant Premillennalism. ... In language, text is a broad term for something that contains words to express something. ... Jump to: navigation, search Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Resources ArtLex. ... Human sexuality is the expression of sexual feelings. ... In an insurance policy, the deductible or excess is the portion of any claim that is not covered by the insurance provider. ... In economics, utility is a measure of the happiness or satisfaction gained from a good or service. ... Jump to: navigation, search Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding modernism. ... Queer theory is an anti-essentialist theory about sex and gender within the larger field of Queer studies. ... Jump to: navigation, search Roland Barthes (November 12, 1915 – March 25, 1980) was a French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher and semiotician. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (April 13, 1901 – September 9, 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. ... Judith Butler (b. ... Leo Bersani is a theorist and Professor Emeritus of French at UC Berkeley. ... Jump to: navigation, search Self might refer to various different things: Look up self on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

For Barthes (1977, p.9) plaisir is, "a pleasure...linked to cultural enjoyment and identity, to the cultural enjoyment of identity, to a homogenising movement of the ego." As Richard Middleton (1990, p.261) puts it, "Plaisir results, then, from the operation of the structures of signification through which the subject knows himself or herself; jouissance fractures these structures." Richard Middleton may be Richard Middleton (Lord Chancellor) medieval theologian, philosopher and Lord Chancellor Richard Middleton (writer) (1882 - 1911) British poet and ghost story writer Richard Middleton (musicologist) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Source

• Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.
  • Barthes (1977).