Marcel Jouhandeau ou l‘abjection comme passion

Abstract

Julia Kristeva at the beginning of Pouvoirs de l‘horreur writes: “de l‘objet, l‘abject n‘a qu‘une qualité - celle de s‘opposer à  je [”¦], l‘abject, objet chu, est radicalement un exclu et me tire vers là  où le sens s‘effondre”. These words could well define De l‘Abjection by Marcel Jouhandeau, published anonymously in 1939. For Hugues Bachelot, De l‘Abjection is the author apocalypse, a way to write without shame but also without scandal about his desires and passions. The Evil and the homosexuality as an evil emanation possess a divine explanation; aware of that, he could move abjection into sublime and sublime into abjection till the final acclaim: “l‘injure, l‘insulte est perpétuelle. Elle n‘est pas seulement dans la bouche de celui-ci ou de celui-là , explicite mais sur toutes les lèvres qui me nomment [”¦]. Elle est moi-même et c‘est Dieu en personne qui la profère”. In my essay, I would like to analyze Jouhandeau‘s book through the lens of the theory of abjection, especially Kristeva and Bataille, in order to demonstrate that the category of abjection allows the author to talk about his passion without disavowing it: “pas moi, pas ça. Mais pas rien non plus”.