to enjoy the perverse chills of subtracting oneself from its gaze

M

Mohammad Ali1

Senior Member
Persian
What new lesson can we draw from this young patient’s kleptomania? She insists on going beyond the Law, she insists on repeating an act that is outside the Law, but only so as to be seen, to be recognized, to make the Other of the Law exist. The act is not repeated in order to
defraud the Law, to enjoy the perverse chills of subtracting oneself from its gaze, but, paradoxically, in order to give the Law a body.
Source: The Telemachus Complex by Massimo Recalcati
Q: Does it mean "to enjoy the fear of ignoring the law?"
 
    • I think you have to read "perverse chills" as "thrills." I think that works semantically in this context.

    I'd paraphrase your bolded clause as "to enjoy the thrill of not being seen/detected by the Law" or "...the thrill of being able to escape the watchful eye of the Law."
     
    [It is not done] in order to enjoy
    the perverse chills - the annoying and immoral excitement
    of subtracting oneself - of removing yourself
    from its [the Law's] gaze - from the [area of] watchfulness of the Law.

    = It isn't done for the thrill of breaking the law and escaping unpunished.
     
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