Jacques-Alain Miller underlines two definitions of the symptom. On the one hand, āthe symptom is an advent [avĆØnement] of signification. It is in this capacity that it is eminently interpretable. This definition says nothing elseā. This is the classic symptom with its effects of truth.
Jacques-Alain Miller underlines two definitions of the symptom. On the one hand, āthe symptom is an advent [avĆØnement] of signification. It is in this capacity that it is eminently interpretable. This definition says nothing elseā. This is the classic symptom with its effects of truth. On the other hand, āthe definition of the symptom as a body event [Ć©vĆØnement]] that I have promoted is necessary and inevitable in so far as the symptom constitutes a jouissance as such.ā This definition āmakes the status of the interpretation that could respond to it much more problematic.ā
From the moment the symptom is grasped by jouissance and affects the body āinsofar as it enjoys itselfā, it is an event of the body. And then it develops as meaning. But at its root it is āa pure reiteration of the One of jouissance that Lacan calls sinthome.ā The One is repeated in the iteration and there is the body that appears as Other , the body event being the conjunction of the One and the body.
The event does not bear witness to a truth to be discovered. Rather, it refers to excess, surprise and the contingency of the encounter. It leaves no room for interpretation in terms of meanings. It is therefore about staying away from sense. āIndeed, these are meanings that first present themselves in listening; they are what capture and permeate you. It is already a great deal to succeed in detaching oneself from these enough to isolate in them the signifiers, and to interpret, on the basis not of signification, but of simple homophony, not of sense but of sound. On occasion, this interpretation can be reduced to making a sound resonate, nothing more.ā
Alexandre STEVENS. Bodily effects of language ā XIX th Congress of Psychoanalysis. Translated by Philip Dravers.