Thérèse de Lisieux : jouir jusqu´à la mort

Abstract

[FR] Dans cet article, j´essaye de démontrer le rapport étroit entre une expérience religieuse limite et l´autodestruction. Dans le cas de Thérèse de Lisieux, le désir incestueux pour son père est déplacé vers la figure de Christ Jésus qui est l´enfant symbolique du couple père/ Thérèse. Sa mère, morte quand elle avait 4 ans, apparaît sous la figure sublimée de la Vierge. Triangle œdipien mystique où la modalité sexuelle choisie pour Thérèse est la soumission à la divinité paternelle, la souffrance et le masochisme, qui a pour but la jouissance et l´autodestruction.

[EN] In this article, I note that religion and the act of joining the convent mask a sexuality and an eroticism that are a source of great guilt, as the incestuous desire for the father is sublimated in the figure of Christ. In the case of Thérèse de Lisieux, where unconscious guilt generates such desire, a masochistic personality is created, that is given to suffering. This will lead her to self-destruction, and ultimately death. Moreover, the death of her mother when she was four years old would bequeath her a psyche that is consumed by a phantasy, an Other who would persecute her throughout her life; and, just as in the case of her father, sheends up sublimating her desire in the figure of the Virgin.