Jacques Lacan

The theories of Jacques Lacan give explanation and intention to the narrator’s actions throughout the novel “Surfacing”. Although Margaret Atwood may not have had any knowledge of the French psychoanalyst’s philosophies, I feel that both were making inferences on behavior and psychology and that the two undeniably synchronize with each other. I will first identify the complex philosophies of Jacques Lacan and then demonstrate how the narrator falls outside of Lacan’s view of society and how this

While discussing Jacque Lacan’s The Mirror Stage for the second time this semester I started thinking about my own younger brother’s introduction to the mirror a few years ago. As I was trying to remember this interaction, I came to the realization that his first interaction with his “self” wasn’t with a mirror at all- it was actually with an iPhone’s front facing camera- used as a form of distraction while he sat in his highchair. This made start thinking about the fact that the recent generations

post-structuralist psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan and nineteenth century linguist and semiologist, Ferdinand de Saussure, both have famous theories about language that can be related to the book Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. The ability for Little Bee to learn a new variation of her own language can be outlined in the works of both Jacques Lacan and Ferdinand de Saussure. Both men devoted their lives to the study of language and how it related people to the world around them. Jacques Lacan’s theory, described

(Homer 56). Lacan, in the essay The Signification of the Phallus argues that the difference between “having” and “being” the phallus is that men are positioned as men as long as they are seen to have the phallus, whereas women, not having a phallus, are seen to “be” the phallus (Lacan 1309). To Lacan, the phallus symbolizes both the penis and the clitoris as a signifier but the phallus is constructed to be a signifier of power and is distinguished between the sexes in terms of lack (Lacan 1306, Rine

Jacques Lacan and Louis Althusser, post-structuralist philosophers and intellectual theorists, have expanded the confines of the human subject (Pauker). Addressing it from opposite academic disciplines they deal with many similar topics however expressed in different ways. As each independently discusses the self awareness of the human subject, many ties can be formed between these two theorists, both arguing that a subject is misrecognized and constructed differently to the traditional Cartesian

He says that desire is always unconscious. It is not the case that Lacan sees conscious desire as unimportant but the unconscious desire forms the central concern of psychoanalysis. Secondly, unconscious desire is entirely sexual in nature as he says, “the motives of unconscious desire are limited…to sexual desire…the other great generic desire that of hunger, is not represented” (Lacan 156). It is possible to recognize one’s desire only when it is articulated in speech i.e

William Wordsworth was a prolific poet of the Romantic movement, perhaps best known for publishing Lyrical Ballads with friend and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798. These poems were written in what Wordsworth described as a ‘common tongue’ with a focus on themes often found in Romantic poetry, such as the pastoral, the mythical, fragmentation, heroism and satire. In Lyrical Ballads one recurring subject almost unique to Wordsworth in its passion and persistence is that of motherhood

theorists after Freud was Jacques Lacan. In his text, “The Signification of the Phallus,” asserts that the idea of both sexes are based on the male “being” and the female “having” the phallus, and these two differences determine the relations between the sexes while also bringing them together. For Lacan, the phallus for males represents power, authority, and desire while for females the phallus signifies lack of power and agency (182). Another important text by Lacan is “The Agency of the Letter

raven. Annotated Bibliography Bailly, Lionel. Lacan: A Beginner's Guide. Nook file, Oneworld Publications, 2009. This is a book written by Lionel Bailly, a Psychoanalyst, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist who teaches on the subject of Jacques Lacan and is a member of the Association Lacanienne Internationale, an organization that continues the work of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. Its purpose is to break down the major theories of Jacques Lacan on a level that is accessible

Sophocles’  “Oedipus’’ is a renowned tragedy which hasn’t lost its bite even to this day. It has multiple alternate titles including “Oedipus the King’’ and “Oedipus Tyrannous”. In the play Oedipus, king of Thebes, having heard that his city is being ravaged by fire and plague, sends his brother-in-law Creon to find a remedy from the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. When Creon returns Oedipus commences to investigate the death of his predecessor, Laius, and discovers through various accounts that he himself