Matheson, Desire and Illusory Love

Abstract: “The Seducer’s Diary” is often described as a traditional story of seduction, wherein a crafty “seducer” chooses a victim and courts her to fall in love with him. This paper challenges such a view, arguing that a relationship is not even an option for Johannes the Seducer and that the only thing he is really after is desire itself. Drawing from the work of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, I will show that Johannes is nothing more than an “obsessive neurotic” who merely uses Cordelia as a mirror in which to view himself and his own desire. “The Seducer’s Diary” is not a story of the seduction of a young girl; rather, it is the story of how Johannes becomes intoxicated with his own desire.