La metafora dei Proci. Esperienza del limite ed etica della jouissance = The metaphor of the suitors of Penelope. Experience of limits and ethics of jouissance

Abstract

In the classical mythology and in greek tragedy, there are some metaphor concepts which, all along, represent and propose again the essential nucleus of human sensitivity. Among these, the concept of hybris, probably, deserves a place of crucial modernity and preeminence. Hybris is arrogance, the feeling of the excess, of prevarification, of pride, the crossing limits of human acting. As for Homeric mythology, among the most representative personalities in terms of arrogance, we can find the Suitors of Penelope (The Proci) – 109 young noblemen from Ithaca who aim at achieving Penelope’s hand and Ulysses’ kingdom during his absence - have an essential role. Following the Lacanian lesson, the Suitors are the metaphor of “jouissance mortelle”, the opposite of the Law of “symbolic castration”that is the awareness of human acting perimeter.