About | [S][J][P]

The title (Surplus) Jouissance Projects - [S][J][P] comes from my current understanding and thinking about the concept of surplus jouissance.


What is Surplus Jouissance ?

Jouissance is a French word that does not translate well into English, but the usual way it’s translated is as "enjoyment."

The idea of surplus jouissance comes from the work of Lacan, and it suggests that to enjoy something, it has to be something extra. The idea here is that people have needs, and meeting our needs is good. We can't enjoy until after our needs are met, but meeting our needs is, in and of itself, not something we enjoy. The theory of surplus jouissance suggests that to enjoy something, it has to be something that we don’t need, something that goes beyond our needs, something extra, unnecessary, a surplus.

Example: I need food, but I’ll enjoy desert, which gives me calories I definitely don’t need.

All the stuff I make (podcasts, newsletter, etc.) are things I do for fun. Making them gives me surplus jouissance. My guess is the people who are on the receiving end of what I make certainly don’t need to consume it, but they enjoy consuming it, which makes it surplus jouissance for them too.


[S][J][P] is a few things at the same time

  1. It is a website / archive system where I store and post the different things I'm making. This includes podcasts, notebooks, journals, photographs, videos, essays, and whatever else I might produce.
  2. It is a membership program – At this point, what this means, is that you can become a member by signing up to get email updates from [S][J][P]. You can become a member by clicking the red button in the lower right hand corner of the screen, that says "Become A Member", and entering your email address.

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