A Lacanian Comparative Study of Desire and the Lost Object in the Selected Poetry of Nosrat Rahmani and Henry Charles Bukowski

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mahnoosh Vahdati ¹
• Fazel Asadi Amjad ²

¹ PhD Graduate in English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

² Professor in English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/jls.2024.83492.1473

Abstract

The present research is a comparative study of Jacques Lacan's concepts of Desire, Love, and Lost Object in the selected poems of Nosrat Rahmani and Henry Charles Bukowski. It aims to locate and debate the psychological causes of this desire and endless search for 'objet a' in the narrators' psyches. Analyzing "The Story" by Rahmani and "Another Bed" by Bukowski, the researchers found that Love has always been accompanied by loss and separation in their poems. The narrators endeavor to discover their lost paradise in multiple lovers, unaware they are involved in a phallic Jouissance with repetitive compulsion. This study concludes that to discover the ideal object and be united with the ultimate mother, the narrators are involved with an imaginary love that never binds them to the perfect love of the Real Order. Like all signifiers, the object of their love constantly slips from its signified. The narrators have a narcissistic relationship with the object of their desires. They fall in love with themselves or with someone else who is supportive and reminds them of maternal love. In this continuous cycle of Desire, women are small objects that the narrators love for a while to satisfy their initial lack. When their desire is not satisfied, they leave them and look for another object of desire.

Keywords

• Desire
• Lost Object
• Jacques Lacan
• Charles Bukowski
• Nosrat Rahmani

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