An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis by Evans Dylan

Author:Evans, Dylan [DYLAN EVANS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2011-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 8 First formula of metaphor

Source: Jacques Lacan, Écrits, Paris: Seuil, 1966.

Figure 9 Second formula of metaphor

Source: Jacques Lacan, Écrits, Paris: Seuil, 1966.

The idea behind this rather obscure formulation is that there is an inherent resistance to signification in language (a resistance which is symbolised by the bar in the Saussurean algorithm). Meaning does not simply appear spontaneously, but is the product of a specific operation which crosses over the bar. The formula is meant to illustrate Lacan’s thesis that this operation, the production of meaning, which Lacan calls ‘signification’, is only made possible by metaphor. Metaphor is thus the passage of the signifier into the signified, the creation of a new signified.

Lacan presents another formula for metaphor in a paper written a few months later (E, 200;Figure 9).

Lacan’s own explanation of this second formula is as follows:

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