Justine 淑女的眼泪 Chapter 32

"Now, if we admit that the senses' joy is always dependent upon the imagination, always regulated by the imagination, one must not be amazed by the numerous variations the imagination is apt to suggest during the pleasurable episode, by the infinite multitude of different tastes and passions the imagination's various extravagances will bring to light. Luxurious¹ though these tastes may be, they are never intrinsically strange; there is no reason to find a mealtime eccentricity² more or less extraordinary than a bed-room whim³; and in the one and the other, it is not more astonishing to idolize what the common run of mankind holds detestable than it is to love something generally recognized as pleasant. To like what others like proves organic conformity⁵, but demonstrates nothing in favor of the beloved object. Three-quarters of the universe may find the rose's scent⁶ delicious without that serving either as evidence upon which to condemn⁷ the remaining quarter which might find the smell offensive, or as proof that this odor is truly agreeable.

 

"If then in this world there exist persons whose tastes conflict with accepted prejudices, not only must one not be surprised by the fact, not only must one not scold these dissenters⁸ or punish them, but one must aid them, procure⁹ them contentment, remove obstacles which impede¹⁰ them, and afford them, if you wish to be just, all the means to satisfy themselves without risk; because they are no more responsible for having this curious taste than you are responsible for being live-spirited or dull-witted, prettily¹¹ made or knock-kneed. It is in the mother's womb that there are fashioned the organs which must render us susceptible¹² of such-and-such a fantasy; the first objects which we encounter, the first conversations we overhear determine the pattern; once tastes are formed nothing in the world can destroy them. Do what it will, education is incapable¹³ of altering the pattern, and he who has got to be a villain¹⁴ just as surely becomes a villain, the good education you give him notwithstanding; quite as he, however much he has lacked good example, flies unerringly toward virtue¹⁵ if his organs dispose him to the doing of good. Both have acted in accordance with their organic structure, in accordance with the impressions they have received from Nature, and the one is no more deserving of punishment than the other is of reward.

 

"Curiously¹⁶ enough, so long as it is merely a question of trifles, we are never in the least astonished by the differences existing among tastes; but let the subject take on an erotic tincture, and listen to the word spread about! rumors¹⁷ fly, women, always thoughtful of guarding their rights - women whose feebleness and inconsequence make them especially prone¹⁸ to seeing enemies everywhere about, women, I say, are all constantly trembling and quivering lest something be snatched away from them and if, when taking one's pleasure, one unfortunately puts practices to use which conflict with woman-worship, lo! there you have crimes which merit the noose¹⁹. And what an injustice²⁰! Must sensual pleasure render a man better than life's other pleasures? In one word, must our penchants be any more concentrated upon the temple of generation, must it necessarily more certainly awaken²¹ our desires, than some other part of the body either the most contrary to or at the furthest remove from it? than some emanation of the body either the most fetid or the most disgusting? It should not, in my opinion, appear any more astonishing to see a man introduce singularity into his libertine²² pleasures than it should appear strange to see him employ the uncommon²³ in any other of life's activities. Once again, in either case, his singularity is the result of his organs: is it his fault if what affects you is naught²⁴ to him, or if he is only moved by what repels²⁵ you? What living man would not instantly revise his tastes, his affections, his penchants and bring them into harmony with the general scheme, what man, rather than continue a freak, would not prefer to be like everyone else, were it in his power to do so? It is the most barbarous and most stupid intolerance to wish to fly at such a man's throat; he is no more guilty toward society, regardless of what may be his extravagances, than is, as I have just said, the person who came blind and lame²⁶ into the world. And it would be quite as unjust to punish or deride²⁷ the latter as to afflict²⁸ or berate²⁹ the other. The man endowed with uncommon tastes is sick; if you prefer, he is like a woman subject to hysterical³⁰ vapors³¹. Has the idea to punish such a person ever occurred to us? Let us be equally fair when dealing³² with the man whose caprices startle us; perfectly³³ like unto the ill man or the woman suffering from vapors, he is deserving of sympathy and not of blame; that is the moral apology for the persons whom we are discussing; a physical explanation will without doubt be found as easily, and when the study of anatomy³⁴ reaches perfection they will without any trouble be able to demonstrate the relationship of the human constitution to the tastes which it affects. Ah, you pedants³⁵, hangmen, turnkeys, lawmakers, you shavepate rabble³⁶, what will you do when we have arrived there? what is to become of your laws, your ethics³⁷, your religion, your gallows³⁸, your Gods and your Heavens and your Hell when it shall be proven that such a flow of liquids, this variety of fibers³⁹, that degree of pungency⁴⁰ in the blood or in the animal spirits are sufficient to make a man the object of your givings and your takings away? We continue. Cruel tastes astonish you.

 

"What is the aim of the man who seeks his joy? is it not to give his senses all the irritation⁴¹ of which they are susceptible in order, by this means, better and more warmly to reach the ultimate crisis... the precious crisis which characterizes the enjoyment⁴² as good or bad, depending upon the greater or lesser⁴³ activity which occurs during the crisis? Well, is one not guilty of an untenable sophistry⁴⁴ when one dares affirm it is necessary, in order to ameliorate it, that it be shared with the woman? Is it not plain enough that the woman can share nothing with us without taking something from us? and that all she makes away with must necessarily be had by her at our expense? And what then is this necessity, I ask, that a woman enjoy herself when we are enjoying ourselves ? in this arrangement is there any sentiment but pride which may be flattered? and does one not savor⁴⁵ this proud feeling in a far more piquant⁴⁶ manner when, on the contrary, one harshly constrains⁴⁷ this woman to abandon her quest for pleasure and to devote herself to making you alone feel it? Does not tyranny flatter the pride in a far more lively way than does beneficence? In one word, is not he who imposes much more surely the master than he who shares? But how could it ever have entered a reasonable man's head that delicacy⁴⁸ is of any value during enjoyment? 'Tis absurd, to maintain it is necessary at such a time; it never adds anything to the pleasure of the senses, why, I contend that it detracts therefrom. To love and to enjoy are two very different things: the proof whereof is that one loves every day without enjoying, and that even more often one enjoys without loving. Anything by way of consideration for the woman one stirs into the broth⁴⁹ has got to dilute⁵⁰ its strength and impair⁵¹ its flavor for the man; so long as the latter spends his time giving enjoyment, he assuredly does not himself do any enjoying, or his enjoyment is merely intellectual, that is to say, chimerical⁵² and far inferior to sensual enjoyment. No, Therese, no, I will not cease repeating it, there is absolutely no necessity that, in order to be keen, an enjoyment must be shared; and in order that this kind of pleasure may be rendered piquant to the utmost, it is, on the contrary, very essential that the man never take his pleasure save at the expense of the woman, that he take from her (without regard for the sensation she may experience thereby) everything which may in any way improve or increase the voluptuous⁵³ exercise he wants to relish⁵⁴, and this without the slightest concern for whatever may be the effects of all this upon the woman, for preoccupation of that sort will prove bothersome to him; he either wants the woman to partake of pleasure, and thereupon his joys are at an end; or he fears lest she will suffer, and he is hurled⁵⁵ into confusion, all's brought to a stop. If egoism is Nature's fundamental commandment, it is very surely most of all during our lubricious delights that this celestial⁵⁶ Mother desires us to be most absolutely under its rule; why, it's a very small evil, is it not, that, in the interests of the augmentation of the man's lecherous⁵⁷ delights he has got either to neglect or upset the woman's; for if this upsetting of her pleasure causes him to gain any, what is lost to the object which serves him affects him in no wise, save profitably: it must be a matter of indifference⁵⁸ to him whether that object is happy or unhappy, provided it be delectable⁵⁹ to him; in truth, there is no relation at all between that object and himself. He would hence be a fool to trouble himself about the object's sensations and forget his own; he would be entirely⁶⁰ mad if, in order to modify those sensations foreign to him, he were to renounce⁶¹ improvement of his. That much established, if the individual in question is, unhappily, organized in such a fashion he cannot be stirred save by producing painful sensations in the object employed, you will admit he is forced to go ruthlessly to work, since the point of it all is to have the best possible time, the consequences for the object being entirely excluded from consideration.... We will return to the problem; let us continue in an orderly fashion.

 

"Isolated⁶² enjoyment therefore has its charms, it may therefore have more of them than all other kinds; why I if it were not so, how should the aged⁶³ and so many deformed⁶⁴ or defective⁶⁵ persons be able to enjoy themselves? for they know full well they are not loved nor lovable; perfectly certain it is impossible to share what they experience, is their joy any the less powerful on that account? Do they desire even the illusion? Behaving with utter selfishness in their riots, you will observe them seeking pleasure, you will see them sacrifice everything to obtain it, and in the object they put to use never other than passive properties. Therefore, it is in no wise necessary to give pleasures in order to receive them; the happy or unhappy situation of the victim of our debauch⁶⁶ is, therefore, absolutely as one from the point of view of our senses, there is never any question of the state in which his heart or mind may be; it matters not one whit⁶⁷, the object may be pleased by what you do to it, the object may suffer, it may love or detest⁴ you: all these considerations are nullified immediately it is only a question of your sensation. Women, I concede, may establish contrary theories, but women, who are nothing but machines designed for voluptuousness⁶⁸, who ought to be nothing but the targets of lust⁶⁹, are untrustworthy authorities whenever one has got to construct an authentic⁷⁰ doctrine⁷¹ upon this kind of pleasure. Is there a single reasonable man who is eager to have a whore partake of his joy? And, however, are there not millions of men who amuse themselves hugely with these creatures? Well, there you have that many individuals convinced of what I am urging, who unhesitatingly put it into practice, and who scorn those who use good principles to legitimate⁷² their deeds, those ridiculous fools, the world is stuffed to overflowing⁷³ with them, who go and come, who do this and that, who eat, who digest, without ever sensing a thing.

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