The Riddles of the Sphinx by Anna Shechtman

Author:Anna Shechtman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Although these two doors look identical, their difference is heavily circumscribed by the words that hover above them. The relationship between the doors and their labels, however, is not a simple one-to-one correlation (as in a rebus). Rather, the doors and their labels only gain meaning in relation to each other (as the words in a crossword puzzle exist only through their crossings with other words). “Gentlemen” only gains meaning when contrasted to “Ladies.” And they only really gain meaning in relation to the entire interlocking “chain of signifiers” that comprises the Symbolic. Lacan related his theory of language in the form of bathroom humor: “A train arrives at a station,” he wrote.

A little boy and a little girl, brother and sister, are seated in a compartment face to face next to the window through which the buildings along the station platform can be seen passing as the train pulls to a stop. “Look,” says the brother, “we’re at Ladies!” “Idiot,” replies his sister, “can’t you see we’re at Gentlemen?”

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