the piano teacher “pain itself is merely a consequence of the desire for pleasure, the desire to...

THE PIANO TEACHER

“Pain itself is merely a consequence of the

desire for pleasure, the desire to destroy, to

annihilate; in its supreme form, pain is a

variety of pleasure.” (107)

“The opposite sex always wants the exact opposite.” (143)

PEEP SHOWS

PEEP SHOWS

shame, voyeurism, anonymity

simultaneously public and private, nameless, reductive

power, control, domination

shame, disgust, pleasure, mediation of desire through

other

auto-/allo-eroticism | objectification | subjectivity

the Gaze – Laura Mulvey (Sartre, Lacan, Zizek)

PEEP SHOWS

immigration, race, ethnicity

class, economics, urban life

gender and sexual politics

shame, secrecy, anonymity,

privilege, power

the GAZE | Objectification

(subjectivity)

Precedents and Consequences

for Erika

PEEP SHOWS

I – 44-45 and 47-49 and 52-56• antecedent – the country cousin and first reported cutting • subsequent – sees other young people in groups, flirting,

dating, etc.

Erika goes to porn theatre 105-108• greater violence, sadism, blurred interior/exterior – where

is the mystery of women’s desire (and male desire for it)?

then to the park for some live-action voyeurism 140-141

PEEP SHOWS

I – 44-45 and 47-49 and 52-56• antecedent – the country cousin and first reported cutting • subsequent – sees other young people in groups, flirting,

dating, etc.

Erika goes to porn theatre 105-108• greater violence, sadism, blurred interior/exterior – where

is the mystery of women’s desire (and male desire for it)?

then to the park for some live-action voyeurism 140-141

A LETTER ALWAYS ARRIVES

typically letters are love letters

romance, epistolary novels – seduction by words,

images

long-distance seduction – even in Les Liaisons

Dangereuses

commitment, affirmation, oath

the epistolary tradition in novels – record of truth,

interiority, privacy, tenderness, detail, subjectivity, desire

A LETTER ALWAYS ARRIVES

In The Piano Teacher this all gets overturned

antecedent to the letter – the bathroom

“seduction” 175ff.

then the letter – 214 ff.

and its consequences – c. 272ff.