The "Floating Signifier": From Lévi-Strauss to Lacan

Author(s): Jeffrey Mehlman

Source: Yale French Studies, No. 48, French Freud: Structural Studies in Psychoanalysis (1972),
pp. 10-37
Published by: Yale University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2929621
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Jeffrey
Mehlman

The "floatingsignifier":fromLevi-Straussto Lacan

As the Anglo-Americanlooks on in fascinationor exasperationat

the remarkablespeculativeactivityassociated with the names in our
title,he may be temptedto conceiveof the utilityof what Panofsky
mighthave called an iconographyof recentFrench thought.1 For to
work one's way throughthe thousandpages of Lacan's Ecrits, for
example,is to come to termswitha highlyproblematicand allusive
convergenceof the themes,motifs,and conceptsof Heidegger,Saus-
sure, Levi-Strauss,and others,in an idiosyncraticmeditationon the
mostradical aspects of Freud's discovery.It is thusperhapsto recall
as well themasterywithwhichPanofskyanalyzedRenaissanceimages
into theirvariousChristianand classical componentsand to envisage
an analogous analyticattemptvis-a-visthe French.What followsis
a modesteffort in thatdirection-observations on thevalue thecrucial
Saussurean termsignifianthas been accorded as it has driftedfrom
one traditionof discourseto another: fromlinguisticsto anthropology
to psychoanalysis.For reasons which will later be clear, I should
indeed not be averse to consideringthese remarksas an eccentric
epilogue to Panofsky'sessay on "Father Time."2
Yet no sooner have we invoked the patronageof Panofskyand
iconographythan the inadequacy of the model becomes apparent.
For Levi-Straussand Lacan, in theircritique of the fascinationof
visibleevidenceand in theirinsistenceon a diacriticalreadingof lin-
guisticphenomena,are,in everysenseof thephrase,verbaliconoclasts.
To isolate a termoutsideof thenetworkof latentrelationshipswhich
constituteits value would be, at best, cavalierlyto spare oneselfin

1 This paper is an expansionof a lectureoriginallygiven to the Yale

ComparativeLiteratureColloquium.
2 ErwinPanofsky, Studiesin Iconology(New York, 1939).

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readingthese authorsthe painstakingeffortswhich theyhave made

as readers,and, at worst,to fall preyto the veryillusionswhichare
the objects of Lacan's and Levi-Strauss'sattack.There could be, in
fact,no more intimidating image of the failureof a naive searchfor
than the scene in "The PurloinedLetter"whichLacan
"le signifiant"
employsheuristically:we mightcomb the worksof our two authors
much as the Queen's police examine inch by inch the Minister's
chamberin theirpathetichunt for the missingletter.The error,in
eithercase, would be to search for the plenitudeof a real object
when,in fact,what is in play and at stake is a purelyformalcircuit
of symbols.lmbe'cillitgrealiste,writesLacan...
Having declaredour intentionto read our authorsin the spiritin
which they themselveshave read, it remainsfor us to presentour
strategy. We shall discuss two importanttexts,ostensiblydealingwith
different subjects,but involvingthe problematicnatureof the "signi-
fier."They will be shown to be transformations of each other.The
firstis Levi-Strauss'sspeculativeintroductionto the works of his
mentorMarcel Mauss. 3 The second is a seriesof fragments froman
interviewwith Lacan later published as Radiophonie.4 It is hoped
that the superimposition of these textswill generatesome sense of
the poeticsof recentFrenchthought.I writeas neitheranthropologist
nor psychoanalyst, but ratheras someonewho became aware thatthe
most adventuroustendenciesin French thoughtwere beginningto
convergein a reflection on textualdynamicswhichresemblednothing
so much as a radicalizationof the inoffensive craftwe had come to
know as "literarycriticism."
Before ascendingto the gaya scienza, we would do well to gain
our groundingin Tristestropiques.At the culminationof his journeys
in the book, Levi-Strauss,the enrapturedbearer of all the illusions
of the anthropologicaltradition,findshimselfthe firstEuropean to
make contactwith a Tupi village. The approach in canoe involves
the descriptionof a natureprimordialin its vitality.

3 Claude Levi-Strauss,
"Introduction a l'ceuvrede Marcel Mauss" in Mauss,
Sociologie et Anthropologie(Paris, 1950). Page referencesto this work are
indicatedin the text.
4 JacquesLacan, "Radiophonie"in Scilicet2/3 (Paris, 1970).

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Trees grewin everydirection,withflowersin full bloom across waterfalls.It

was difficultto tell whetherthe river'smain purpose was to irrigatethis
astonishinggarden,or whetherit would be quite simplyoverwhelmed by the
of plantsand liana whichhad arrogatedto themselvesnot merely
multiplicity
the vertical dimension,but all space's dimensionsnow that the ordinary
betweenearthand waterhad been abolished.5
distinctions

The anthropologist's
enthusiasm is bornof the marvelously undif-
densityof the site. And the pastoraldescription
ferentiated will
concludeby invoking a natureundisturbed by man,reminiscent,we
read,of certainBreughelpaintings of paradise.
Yet no soonerhas theanthropologist intothevillage
penetrated
the
and admired Tupis'"joyfullanguage" thana reversal
occurs."And
yet,thisadventurebegunwithsuchhighhopes,leftme witha feeling
of emptiness."The manicmomenthas collapsedinto depression.
Indeed the entirepassage will function underthe signof all and
nothing,all as nothing: "Those confusedappearancesof the natives
whichare everything and nothing... I had at one and the same time
myrewardand mypunishment." It is hereat theconclusionof his
journeythatLevi-Strauss becomesawareof thenatureand basis of
his impasseand thefrustration inherent in it. For his long sought
savages"wereall too savage... No sooneraretheyknownorguessed
at thantheirstrangeness dropsaway,and one mightas well have
stayedin one'sownvillage.Or if. . . theirstrangeness remained intact,
thenit was no good to me,forI couldnotevenbeginto analyzeit."
In this pivotal tourniquet(or whirligig),to borrowa Sartreanterm,
eitherthe subject'sknowledgeor the object'sfascination will be
in the vain quest forsignificant
sacrificed knowledgeof the other.
For to knowthesavageis to obliterate
his"savagery"or interest.
But
forthe savageto retainhis othernessis to frustrate
anypossibility
of knowing him.The exampleof Proustis appositehere.For Levi-
Straussstandsbeforethe Tupi nativesmuchas Swanndid before
Odette.The Proustianpassionwas to knowthe unknownwoman
as unknown. Thus Swann'seventualdiscovery of Odette'spartlife

5 Ldvi-Strauss,
Tristestropiques(Paris, 1955),p. 295.

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marksthedeathof his passionforher.In Proustas in Levi-Strauss,

we beginwitha crucialfailingof sympathy.
At the momentof returnto Europe,Levi-Strauss lamentsthe
futility
of his trip:

The investigatoreats his heart out in the exerciseof his profession:he has
abandoned, after all, his environment, his friends,and his habits,spent a
considerableamountof moneyand time,and compromised his health.And the
only apparentresultis thathis presenceis forgivenby a handfulof wretched
people who will soon, in any case, be extinct;whose main occupationsare
sleepingand pickingtheirlice.. .6

Transposedinto a Parisiankey,thislamentis recognizable as the

reflection a weariedSwannoffers at theendofhis disastrous attempt
to knowtheother: "To thinkthatI have wastedyearsof mylife,
thatI have longedfordeath,thatthegreatest love thatI have ever
knownhas beenfora womanwho did notpleaseme,who was not
in mystyle!" 7
The finalquestionwillbe one ofends.Levi-Strauss: "It is a time,
above all, of self-interrogation.Whydid he cometo sucha place?
Withwhathopes?And to whatend?" For Proust,theanswerto the
anthropologist's questionis clear: thesufferingofSwann(or thenar-
rator)existsin orderto inspirea greatbook. That whichhas been
lostin realitywillbe regained, appropriated,enshrined withinas art.
Nowwhatever thevalidityofProust'ssolution-andSartrehaswritten
volumeson thebad faithconcomitant withestheticmartyrdom-it is
clearthatsucha conclusion is inadequateto Levi-Strauss's dilemma.
For hisproblemwas notan inability to makehisownor appropriate
theexperience of theTupi,butratherto findsomegroundon which
he could understand themwithout "appropriating"them.It was not
a questionof a loss in realityto be redeemedby an esthetic(or
imaginary) gain,but ratherof escapingfroma realmin whichap-
parently to winis to lose,and vice versa.
It is at thisstagethatLevi-Strauss offersthesketchof a tragedy
whichmightredeemthe frustrations of the journey:L'ApothIose
6 Ibid., p. 337.
7 Proust,A la recherche,
I (Pleiade),p. 382.

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d'Auguste,a remarkably Sartreantransposition of Cinna.Without

pursuing an analysisof thebaroqueplot,we shall simplynotethat
itsimplicit themeis Cinna'sdifficulty in avoidingthetemptations of
an esthetic solutiontothetrialsofthetraveler. Liketheanthropologist,
Cinnafleeshissociety andheroically takesofffora lifeofunmediated
communion withnature.His eventual disappointment is total: "Trav-
ellingis a deception(une duperie) ... I losteverything." 8 Yet upon

his return,his greatestdisappointment is in beingunable not to

transposehis depressioninto esthetically gratifying form.Despite
himself, Cinna has becomean inauthentic culturehero: "I would
explainin vain the emptiness and futility of all thathappened;no
soonerwerethesetransformed intoa narrative thanmyaudiencewas
dazzledand all adream.Yet therewas nothing..."The superbin-
dividualist is thusunableto remainfaithful evento thetruthof his
wastedlife.In Sartrean terms,beingis alreadyirrupting in theheart
of nothingness.
Now whatis crucialforus is thatLevi-Strauss-unlike Proust-
failsto complete his sketch,refusesto writehis masterpiece. Instead
he turnsto anotherkind of textualactivity-structural analysis-
whosemostrecentmanifestation has beenthatvast"mythofmythol-
ogy" whichcomprisesthe fourvolumesof Mythologiques. Let us
rejoinLevi-Strauss as he staresin frustration at theTupi tribesmen,
as close to himas "an imagein a mirror." In its exemplary clarity,
the scenemay be regardedas a logicalpivotbetween, on the one
hand, L'Apothose d'Auguste,literature which,as we have seen,
repeatsthosevictories, whichare defeats,of naive anthropological
experience, and,on theother,let us say,Les Structures e'lementaires
de la parents,the opus whichLevi-Strauss will writeinstead,and
which(by implication) pretendsto be a solutionto the problem
presented. In his despairat thefutilityofan unmediated contactwith
theTupi,Levi-Strauss staresat thebarrenearth:

sincethemenare beyondourgrasp.Overand
Let theearthspeak,therefore,
whichit had givenme by the river'sedgelet it at last
above the delights

8 Tristestropiques,p. 341.

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yieldits secret... I turna prosecutor'seye upon an enormouslandscape,nar-

rowingit down to a strip of clayey river-marge and a handfulof grass:
nothingthereto prove that when I next raised my eyes to the world about
me I should not findthe Bois de Boulogne stretchedout all round that in-
significantpatch of ground.Yet that same groundwas troddenby the most
authenticof savages,thoughMan Friday'sprintwas absent(oi' manquepour-
tantl'empreinte 9
de Vendredi).

Faced withthe sterileplenitudeof the empiricalproximity of his

savages,Levi-Strauss, at theconclusionof thisscene,at the turning
pointof his voyage,thusdreamsof reviving a redeeming,mediating
obsence.It is here,in Friday'smissing
footprint,
thatwe shallinscribe
thefirstof ourprincipal a l'ceuvrede Marcel
texts:"L'Introduction
Mauss."
MarcelMauss,of course,is thetheorist of exchangeand thusthe
provideroftheconceptwhichwillstructure Levi-Strauss's
greatbook
on ElementaryKinship Structures.As the bearer of the law of ex-
change(i.e., the prohibition
of incest),as Levi-Strauss'sintellectual
mentor,Mauss may be regardedas a symbolicOedipal father:
preciselyin the senseintendedby Lacan in his suggestion thatthe
Oedipuscomplexmaybe nothing otherthanwhatthesubjectmay
knowof his unconscious insertionintothesymbolic realmof kinship
10To studyLevi-Strauss's
structures. relationto Maussin thisspecula-
tivetextis thusto workat themoment of imaginative and logical
juncturebetweentheanthropologist's workand thatof Lacan.
The firstoccasionon whichthereaderof Tristestropiquesmay
be inclinedto invokeMauss's thought is duringLevi-Strauss'sinter-
pretativediscussionofCaduveofacepainting. It willbe recalledthat
Caduveosocietyis dividedintothreeendogamous castes,the most
nobleof whichis obsessedwithand paralyzedby considerations of
prestigeand fearof misalliance.

Such a societywould be in gravedangerof segregation.Willinglyor of neces-

sityeach caste tendedto turnin upon itself,so that the cohesionof society
as a whole was threatened.In particularthe endogamyof the castes and the

9 Ibid., p. 298.
10 See Ecrits, p. 277.

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multiplication
of hierarchicalnuanceswould make it verydifficult to arrange
unionsof a kindwhichconformed to theconcretenecessities
of collectivelife.11

For fearof misalliancethe Caduveokill theirchildrenand adopt

othersfromoutsidethe tribe.Clearly,theirsocietyis disintegrating
underthepressures of a sterileendogamy.
Now the Bororo,unlikethe Caduveo,wereable to revitalizea
similarsocietyby introducinga compensatory measureof exogamy.
Theirendogamous castesweresplitintoexogamousmoieties. Thusa
redeeming measureof reciprocity was introducedintotherigidhier-
archy.Now thisresultsin a villageorganization whosestructural
principlesLevi-Straussclaimsto recognize... in the interplayof
symmetry and asymmetry in thefacialdesignsof thelovelyCaduveo
women.His explanation:

But theremedywhichthey[theCaduveo] lacked on the social level-or whose

considerationthey prohibited(interdit)-nevertheless did not wholly escape
them. Insidiously,it continuedto disquietthem.And since they could not
take cognizanceof it and live it,theybeganto dreamof it. For if our analysis
is correct,Caduveo graphicart mustbe interpreted as the fantasyof a society
whichseekswithunfulfilled passion the meansto givesymbolicalformto the
institutionsit mighthave had, if interestand superstition had not stood in
the way.12

Of the threeintellectual "mistresses"-geology, Marx,and Freud-

whomLevi-Strauss invokedin thebeginning ofhis work,it is clearly
Freudwhopresidesoverthisanalysisof repressed fantasy.And yet
thisgraphicartdelineates an unconscious whichis by no meansthe
mostintimate or privatesphereof theindividual(or closedgroup).
On thecontrary,thisunconscious is a fantasy of communication, an
repeated,forneversatisfied
endlessly (inassouvi)desireto dis-close
or symbolizethatfantasy(phantasme). In fact,theseCaduveo are
alreadydreaming the dreamsof MarcelMauss: thatsystemof ex-
changewhich,forLevi-Strauss, will constitutesocietythrough the
of incest.It is a dreamof self-expropriation.
prohibition

11 Tristestropiques,p. 167.
12 Ibid., p. 169.

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Now theIntroductionto theworksofMauss allowsus to confirm

and extendthisobservation.
We read:

In investigating the data of the unconscious,we

further(en approfondissant)
do notmove,so to speak,in thedirectionof ourselves:we entera level which
does not seem strangeto us because it hides our most secretself (notremoi
le plus secret); but (much more normally)because, withoutmovingout of
ourselves,we come to coincide with kinds of activitieswhich are at once
ours and other(NOTRES et AUTRES), the conditionsof mentallife for all
men in all ages (p. 31).

Now it is clear thatthiscollective-butresolutely un-Jungian-un-

consciousis alreadypresent in themicrocosmic case of theCaduveo,
who are thebearersof theirsociety'sdreams.
Moreover,we may alreadysuggestthatthe delineation of this
thirddomain,neither selfnorother, butthesystem of communicative
relationsby whichbothare necessarily constituted
and in whichthey
are alienatedwill be Levi-Strauss's responseto the dilemmawe
observedin Tristestropiques. Faced withtheimpossibility of signif-
icantlyknowing theotherness of theothers,Levi-Strauss willattempt
to cometo termswiththeunconscious structure
he shareswiththem:
withhis own otherness to himself.The Caduveounconscious thus
retainsexemplary valueforlaterdevelopments. Moreover, afterread-
ing of the (self-)destructive efforts of generationsof Europeansto
idealizethenativesintodivineor infernal savages,we couldobserve
littlemoremovingthanthe timidCaduveo attempts to overcome
thatnarcissism in themselves-if onlyin Levi-Strauss's fantasy-and
(re-)affirm symbolically, through theirfacialdesigns,a rudimentary
formof culture(i.e.,of reciprocity).
It is perhapsa signof thesuccessof theCaduveoline drawings
thatthe womenso decoratedare endowed,in the anthropologist's
eyes,witha definite eroticcharm."Thesedelicateand subtlecontours
are no less sensitivethanthoseof thefaceitself;sometimes theone
accentuates theother,sometimes it runscounterto it; in bothcases
the effect is deliciouslyprovocative. As a resultof this,as it were,
pictorialsurgery, art securesa sortof claw-holdupon the human

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body."13 Now thisinscription

of a properly
eroticdimension-which
is also a fantasyof exchange-onthe biologicalindividualhas its
precisecounterpartin theIntroduction
to theworksof Mauss,who,
we are told, in his Essai sur les techniquesdu corps, proposed "a
studyofthewayinwhichsociety imposeson theindividuala rigorous-
lydetermineduse ofhisbody."(p. 11) Thisexamination
ofthemodes
bywhicha socialstructure
"imprintsitsmark"on theindividualbody
would open up "into the heartof psychoanalysis(en pleinepsy-
chanalyse)."
Let us firstnotethatit is Mauss,theintellectual "father,"who
offersLevi-Strauss the conceptallowinghimto thinkthe Caduveo
womanas desirable inso faras herbiological hasbeenalienated
reality
in an unconscious, collectivestructure.For the gloriousimprint of
therudiments of an exchangesystem on thenative'sfaceis a visual
renderingof thatloss of thecorps proprewhichLevi-Strauss, after
Mauss,wouldhave us consider.
Had we space,we wouldfollowLacan and his (former) students
herein theirefforts to wrestfromFreud'stexts-rather thanfrom
empiricalobservation-thepossibilitiesof thinkingthis primary
socialization(i.e., sexualization)of the biologicalindividual:the
generation of whatS. Leclairehas calledle corps e'rogene.14 Justas
we saw Levi-Strauss stymied withtheTupi,so
in a dual relationship
J. Laplancheand J.-B.Pontalishave describedFreud'sdifficulty in
conceptualizing the cornerstone of his construct-theOedipuscom-
plex-in termsof a seriesofinadequateoppositions:subject/object;
biologicalconstitution/traumatic 15 Eventual-
event;internal/external.
ly Freudwill be led to thinkthrough the ontological
statusof the
bizarredomainhe had discovered in termsof Urphantasien (primal
fantasies):universalstructural schemes,transmitted fromgeneration
fromOedipustriangle
to generation, to Oedipustriangle,
andultimate-
ly groundedin a pre-history whosemythical status-symbolized by

13 Ibid., p. 162.
(Paris, 1968).
14 See S. Leclaire,Psychanalyser
fantasmedes
15 See J. Laplanche and J.-B.Pontalis,"Fantasmeoriginaire,
origines,originedu fantasme,"Les Temps modernes,No. 215, 1964.

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theprimordialroleplayedbytheabsenceofthedeadfather in Totem
and Taboo-Freud on occasionseemsnotfarfromadmitting.
Aboveand beyondanyattempts to readLevi-Strauss's
structures
intoFreud'smythical one of the mostremarkable
pre-history, dif-
ferencesbetweentheFrenchand American of Freud,as
perceptions
we havesuggested,derivesfromtheFrenchattempt to "de-biologize"
theunconscious.
Forthe"subject"oftheFrenchunconscious-Oedipal
throughand through-isthelossofthenaturalobjectanditsreplace-
mentby an ideationalrepresentative
("memory trace,""signifiant")
furnishedin an intersubjective To examinethisprocessof
setting.
transition
fromthebiological(individual)
to thesexualunconscious
wouldbe torevivesuchcrucialFreudiantermsas Anlehnung (9tayage,
anaclisis),the movementby whichthe sexual drive(Trieb,pulsion)is
derivedfromtheinstinct (of self-preservation); auto-erotism,not as
an initialphase of maturational development, but as the necessary
condition of humansexuality in so faras itsobjectis not"real"but
fantasmatic; hallucinatory notas an infantile
satisfaction, hallucina-
tionof satisfaction,but ratheras the hallucinatory re-activationof
privileged"meroytraces"as an ned in itself(as in the "wish-
fulfillment"of dreams).16

Lacan's break withAmericanego psychology, whichhe has

denouncedas theideologyof freeenterprise, is thorough.Whereas
theAmericantheorists haveretainedtheFreudiannotionof theego
as an agentofsynthesis, mastery, integration,and adaptation, Lacan's
pointof departure (in thestadedu miroir)has beento revivea far
moreworrisome conception of theego,whichis implicitin Freud's
paperson narcissism and on mourning and melancholia:theego as
constitutedbyan identificationwithanother as wholeobject,perpetual-
ly threatened by its own othernessto itself,essentially suicidal.
WhereastheAmericans writeof ego mastery, Lacan's rusehas been
to situatethatmastery in a (Hegelian)dialecticof masterand slave.
Whatforthe Americansis an agentof strength, forLacan is the
victimoftheillusionofstrength; thewould-be guardian ofobjectivity

16 See entriesfrom J. Laplanche and J. B. Pontalis,Vocabulaire de la

psychanalyse(Paris, 1967),in thisissue.

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is theideologueparexcellence,
whosemainfunction is to insulatethe
ego fromthescandalof primary The difference
processthinking. be-
tweenthe two mightbe summarized by the shiftof perspective
implicitin Lacan's Heideggerian of whatis generally
transcription
taken to be Freud's humanistslogan: Wo es war, soil ich werden.
Lacan translates: LA ou' c'e'tait,il me faut advenir.(There whereit
-the symptomatic slip-was, theremustI cometo be, to locatemy
subjectivity).
One reasonthisreadingofFreudis ofconcern to literaryAmerica
is thatit is indicative of a generalreversalof valuesattributed to
variousmetaphorical and conceptualschemes.For it mustnot be
forgotten thatAmerican"newcriticism" foundfastalliesamongthe
ego psychologists. ThirtyyearsafterFreudhad declaredthe main
thrust of hisdiscovery to be thattheego isn'tevenmasterin itsown
house,E. Kris was reassuring the academythat"regression in the
serviceof the ego" mightsolve a good measureof the humanist's
problems. 17 If therecouldbe anyindexof theFrenchdistrust of the
metaphorics ofwholeness, andtheentire
integrity, imaginative complex
epitomized by the "seamlessweb," it is J. Laplanche'ssuggestion
thattheego,in its constitutional imperviousnessto unconscious truth
(i.e., thefactof primary processthinking),
mightbe afflicted witha
"synthesis compulsion" Cinna'sdiscovery
(precisely upon returning
fromhis desperate trip).18
Let us return thento Levi-Strauss. We haveattempted to present
thedifference betweenthesterility of theanthropologist's
unmediated
encounter withtheTupi and thefascination of theCaduveowomen
in termsof the intervention of a conceptualschemefurnished by
Mauss in thelattercase. Now just as theauthorof theEssai sur le
donthusoffers a meansoftranscending thesterile,
empiricalpresence
of theother,so his rolewillbe to initiateLevi-Strauss to a second
beneficent violation:operatedon theanthropological datadictatedby
"experience." For to the extentthatMauss has an intuition of the

Ernst Kris, Psychoanalytic

17 Explorationsin Art (New York, 1964).
Laplanche,"La D6fenseet l'interdit,"
18 La Nef (special issue on psycho-
analysis),No. 31, 1967, p. 46.

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unconscious,he willgo beyondanyillusory-orat bestpreliminary-

attemptsat empathy withhisinformantsin orderto attaina newand
properlystructuraldimensionof analysis.Mauss's "epistemological
break,"forour author,marksthezero degreeof exoticism. For it
involvesseeingnothingnew-i.e., nothingthatMalinowskihad not
alreadyseen-but everythinganew.

For thefirst
timein thehistoryofanthropological
thoughtan effortwasmade
to transformempirical and attaina deeperreality.
observation For thefirst
in terms
timethesocialis no longerconsidered ofpurequality.., andbecomes
a system,
amongwhosepartsconnections, equivalences maybe
andsolidarities
discovered
(p. 33).

to finda latentstructure
Mauss'seffort in thedisordered phenomena
othershad observed,moreover, is, forLevi-Strauss,parallelto that
of Jakobsonand Troubetskoy to construct the set of relationships
which would constitutethe Grundziigeder Phonologie. Together,
writesLevi-Strauss,
theirworkwouldlead to that"vast scienceof
communication"whoseinception,
we may inferfromthe text,was
the publicationof Les Structureseflmentairesde la parents.
AndyetMauss,havinggoneso far,failedto complete hisproject.
The remainder of theIntroduction consistsof Levi-Strauss's
inquiry
into: ". . .the reasonwhyMauss stoppedat thebrinkof theseim-
mensepossibilities, likeMoses leadinghispeopleto a promised land
whose splendorhe would nevercontemplate" (p. 37). The image
recallsone (fromTristestropiques)whichI omittedcitingearlier,
and whichassimilated the subjectof Caduveoface paintingto an
"inaccessible goldenage." Of thisparadisewe wouldsuggestthatit
is fundamentally inaccessiblein so far as it is a metaphor foran
unconscioussystemof exchangeor expropriation.We may say the
sameof Mauss's"promised land."For theverytermsof thisradical
scienceof communicationpositthatauthentic
knowledge of theother
may take place onlyon an unconsciouslevel.Levi-Strauss'sintel-
lectualtaskand ultimate homageto thisMoses-like Freud's-will
be to slayhim: to demonstratethatMauss was most"himself" not
in his conclusions
butin themarginsof "thosechaoticpages,which

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stillresemblea roughdraft."In briefLevi-Strauss's ultimate project

willbe to revealthatMauss-Moses,the"father"-wasunconscious.
Such is the thirdviolation:"an excursion,whichsomewill no
doubtjudgeimprudent, to the furthest
confines of Mauss's thought
and perhapseven beyond"(p. 22). Througha delineation of the
"structure of (Mauss's) work,"whichis also a "reconstruction" of
it,it is an effort
to allowMaussto communicate thebasisofa theory
of communication. Now theanalysisproceedsthrough a dismantling
of the evidenceattainedthrough Mauss's effort
to identify
withthe
natives.On two crucialoccasions,in theEssai sur le don and the
Esquisse d'une th&oriegeneratede la magie, Mauss was guiltyof
acceptinga nativeexplanation of phenomena as theirscientific ex-
planation:it is precisely
whenhe "understands" theother'sthought
thatunderstanding escapes.
Yet thisverycontradiction(forLevi-Strauss) is an indication that
a validsolutionto theanthropological problemlies in understanding
thelogicof Mauss's(unconscious) error.For thetwonativeconcepts
-hau and mana-whichMauss imports in orderto save his system
are but: "the subjectivereflectionof thenecessity (exigence)of an
unperceived totality."
They are symptoms in a virtually Freudian
sense of an unobserved(unobservable?)order which structures
mauss's(the natives'?)vision.It will be by a supermiposition of
textsthatthislatentorganization will be generated:"Whatwould
resultif we projectedretrospectively onto the notionof mana the
conception ofexchange whichMaussinvites us to formulate?" (p. 46).
The conclusion readintotheEssai surle don was thattherelational
realityof exchangewas fundamental to thesystemand precededthe
distinctionbetweenthe individualacts of buyingand selling.Now
Levi-Strauss'sstrategyis to transfer the relational(or structural)
natureof exchangeto the domainof (structural) with
linguistics,
which,we recall,Mauss's own thought mighthave converged. For
mana, withwhichvirtually any unknownobjectmay be endowed,
would seem to be understandable in the contextof the natureof
languageitself:notin geneticterms, butas a function "of a certain
situationof mindin the presenceof things."Levi-Strauss tinkers

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(bricole) inventively,
and offerstruc,machinand (American)oomph
(designating
desirability)
as mana-like
functions
in modern
languages:
alwaysand everywhere, thesekindsof notionsintervene, a littlelike algebraic
symbols,in order to representan undetermined quantityof signification, in
itselfvoid of meaningand thus apt to receive any meaning,whose unique
functionis to bridgea gap betweensignifiant and signifte,or, more exactly,
on a specificoccasion... a relation
to indicatethatin a specificcircumstance,
of inadequationis establishedbetweensignifiantand signifieto the detriment
(prejudice)of an earliercomplementary relationship.

Nowbysignifiant, Levi-Strauss heremeansliterally thatthroughwhich

meaningtakesplace: thestructure of language.The signifie,on the
otherhand,is of theorderof theknown.Levi-Strauss's paradoxis
thatwhereasthe linguistic totality(of meaning)musthave come
intoexistence all at once,thatwhichwe knowhas been
(as structure)
acquiredprogressively. Withthe irruption of language,the whole
worldbeganto take on meaningall at once,beforeanyonecould
know(connaltre) whatthe meaningwas. "But,fromthe preceding
analysis,it followsthatit (the world)meant(a signifie),fromthe
beginning, thetotalityofwhathumanity couldexpectto knowof it."
This dissymmetry betweenthe synchronic natureof the
(structural)
meantand thediachronic natureof theknownresults in theexistence
of"an overabundance ofsignifier in relation
(signifiant) to thesignifies
to whichit mightapply."And it is this "floatingsignifier," this
"semantic function whoseroleis to allowsymbolic thoughtto operate
despitethecontradiction inherent in it" whichLevi-Strauss sees,in
thiselusiveessay,as thereality of mana.It is "a symbolin thepure
state,"thusapt to be chargedwithanysymbolic content:"symbolic
valuezero."
Now Levi-Strauss's argument uses Saussureantermsin a way
whichrequiresexamination. For Saussure,thesignis constituted by
the "arbitrary" or "unmotivated" associationof an acousticimage
(signifiant)and a concept(signifie9.Our author,however,subverts
thesemeanings by playingon thepresentparticipial and causal res-
onancesofa transitive verbcutofffromitsdirectobject:"le signifiant
precede et determinele signifie"(p. 32). The resultof Levi-Strauss's
is thatthe opposition
displacement signifiant is subverted
/ signifie

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intoanother ofSaussure'sdichotomies: langue/parole.For language

(langue)is thecollective, structural,unconscious system of differential
relationships whichconstitutes thecondition of any in-
of possibility
dividualspeechact (parole).It was forthatreasonthatSaussure's
linguistics was a "linguistics of language(langue)": the level of
linguisticrealitywhoseintelligibility was crucial.Whenwe turnto
therealm(parole)bracketed by Saussure,however, we can see that
its pragmatic taskembracestheanthropologist's paradox: applying
(necessarily the totality of) language(le signifiant) to a (referential)
realitywhichcan be knownonly progressively (le signifie).The
problemposed is: giventhe (systemic) natureof thelinguistic un-
conscious, howcan the(linear)consciousexist?The answeris mana,
"the servitude of all finitethought;"at once a tributeor sacrifice
whichindividualconsciousness mustpay to its unconscious founda-
tion; theadmission thatthereis alwaysindeedsomething moremeant
than(or in) whatwe say; themodeof insistence of theunconscious
in theconscious.
Withmanaas "floating signifier,"moreover, Levi-Straussappears
to have returned to a Saussureanusageof thetermsignifiant, forit
is no longerthatthrough which(all of) meaningmay function (la
langue)butan acousticimage,albeitwithout fixedconcept(signifie).
Or ratherit is thesignifiant (in Saussure'ssense)whichallowsthe
signifiant (in Levi-Strauss's sense)to signify. (In an important way
then,thetermsignifiant, as displacedand subverted by theanthropo-
logist,is itselfendowedwithmana: forit has "meaning"in excess
of whatwe mayassumeto be "meant"by it.)Mana thusrepresents
the arbitrary (and differential) basis of Saussure'slanguage(langue)
irrupting intospeech(parole). The "inadequation" betweensignifier
and signified whichit indicatesis but the "arbitrary" natureof the
Saussureansign (signe)-the firstprincipleof the Cours-creating
thepossibility forcommunication at theverymomentits grotesque
entryin a realmnot its own apparentlyindicatesa paralysisof
communication. 19

19 Cf. Levi-Strauss's
imagein the chapterof StructuralAnthropology (New
York, 1967) on myth: "If this is the case, we should assume that it [myth]

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In viewof thepreceding, the readerwill appreciatethe aptness

of G. Deleuze'saddingto the originalseriesof mana,machin,true
and oomphtheFreudianCa (id).20 For it wouldseemthatmana,the
paradoxicalinstanceseparating (and affirming the irreducibility
of)
signifiantand signifie, languageand speech,the collectiveand the
individual,wouldconverge withtheFreudiandivision between theun-
consciousand the conscious.And in a sense our analysisof the
Introduction toMausshas beennothing buta commentary on Lacan's
gnomicobservation:"The unconscious a
is conceptforgedon the
traceofthatwhichoperatesto constitute thesubject"(Ecrits,p. 830).
For the "floating signifier"is a conceptconstructed by Levi-Strauss
on the basis of whatseemedlike an unexplainable incoherence in
nativethought (ubiquitous it
mana as trace).To explain was to accede
to the verymechanism through which(inter-)subjectivity becomes
possible.On theotherhand,theIntroduction is an essaynotprimarily
about the nativesbut about Marcel Mauss. The "concept"was
theoritically
already(implicit) in Maussas "trace"or indication ofthe
hiddenexplanation. In violating Mauss'sconsciousconclusions, Levi-
Strausshas liberated thattheory of communication whichwillallow
Mauss to communicate (unconsciously)withthe realityof native
thought. Or to movefroma purelysemantic levelto an affectiveone,
we might saythatbyproducing Mauss'spa,Levi-Strauss has liberated
theoomphof theCaduveowoman.In eithercase Levi-Strauss's con-
ceptualOedipusentailsassumingone's place in a discoursewhich
is self-transgressivein what one fearsone can no longercall its
essence.

We turnnow to Lacan's textin thehope thatthedifficulties

we
meettherewill shed lighton otherswe have come acrossin Levi-
Strauss.The lines chosenare fragments
assembled-bothfor their
programmatic value and forthe illuminating
construction
theyin-

closelycorresponds, in the realmof the spokenword,to a crystalin the realm

of physicalmatter.This analogymay help us to betterunderstandthe rela-
tionshipof mythto both langue on the one hand and parole on the other.
Mythis an intermediary entitybetweena statisticalaggregateof moleculesand
the molecularstructure itself."
20 Gilles Deleuze, Logique du sens, (Paris, 1969),p. 64.

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vite-fromthetranscript of an interview withtheanalyston Belgian

radio.We shallattempt to organize thedispersion oftheEcritsaround
thelinguistic idiosyncrasies presented by thepassage.
The unprepared readermayperhapsbeginto findhis bearingsif
we situatethegenreintowhichour textfallssomewhere in between
prosepoemandcrossword
intellectual puzzle.Butthisoutrageousness,
thisinsistence on mediating theultimate(ly meaningful) through the
nonsensical is part of an effort to revivethattellingsenseof im-
propriety whichshockedthefirstreadersof the Traumdeutung with
a feelingthatthebook's"analyses"resembled nothing so muchas a
collectionof (bad) jokes.For it willbe recalledthatFreud'scharac-
teristic
responseto suchannoyance was notan attempt at refutation
but rathera shiftof focuswhicheventually led him to directhis
attentionfullyto thatsecondvarietyof marginalia in his studyon
Der Witz.It is as thoughthesideofFreudwhichwas mostresonant
forLacan werenothis gaze at a hiddencenter,but ratherhis dis-
placementof the centerinto the margins;not his probingof the
ultimatelysignificant,buthisexposureofit to thedevastating playof
nonsense.This secondtraitendowsour textwitha qualityFreud
suspectedmightpertainto his book on dreamsas well: untrans-
For thatreasonour readingwillproceedthrough
latability. a series
of explanatory and analyticparaphrases following passagesfromthe
originalFrench.
The analyst'sexcursus willtheoretically be a response, aprescoup,
to the questionof the ontological status of his discourse:"je fus
surl'ttreque j'accordais
interpelle ~a toutga."Already, in thereporting
of thequestion,an incongruity betweentheelevationof Being(i. e.,
themetaphysical tradition) and theunassimilable, vulgarly indefinite
aspectsof the analyst'sdomainis affirmed. Whether the id (ba) be
associatedwiththe surprising eloquenceof the symptom (pa parle)
or the sinister,
free-floating qualityof unconscious fantasy((a et la,
as Deleuzesuggests), it insistsin a realmsomehowincompatible with
of
the constructions metaphysics. 21

21 (Paris, 1968),p. 128.

Deleuze, Differenceet repetition

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Lacan's responsebegins:

i.Mon 6preuvene touche'a 'tre qu'A le fairenaitrede la failleque

produitI'6tantde se dire.
1. The rift(faille)throughwhichtheanalysts'sordeal(9preuve)would
accede to some transcendenceof the empiricallyexistent(itant) is
already resonantin the proximityof etre and nahre. For in hearing
n'etre,we are faced with an emergencewhich is already a disap-
pearance. Being is somehowdeconstituted by its integraldependence
on the bizarrenegativity of language.The analyst'smove,beyondthe
empirical,through-or"into"-language is incompatiblewithontology.

2.D'ouf 'auteurest a rel6guera se fairemoyenpour un desir qui le

depasse.

2. The dangerherewould be to see, in thisspeculativedismissalof the

author as a relevantcategory,a relapse into romanticism.For desir
does not indicateany "vital force;" it is ratherthe translationof the
Freudian Wunsch(wish). As such it is integrallylinked to "memory
traces,"caughtup in an intersubjective, textualstructure.This aliena-
tion of the individual(and his needs) in the displacementsand con-
densationsthroughwhichthe fantasmaticstructure is repeatedis, for
example,the subject of the "Seminaron 'The PurloinedLetter."'

3. Mais il y a entremiseautrequ'a dit Socrateen acte.

4. II savait commenous qu'A 1'etant,fautle tempsde se fairea etre.

3-4. The ironic invocation of the Socratic dialogue as analogous

(comme nous) to the analyticsession posits,at the beginningof the
metaphysicaltradition,the expectationof a progressleading to the
eventual(faut le temps)revelationof Being or Truth.

5. Ce "fautle temps",c'est l'8trequi sollicitede l'inconscientpour y

faireretourchaque fois que lui "faudra,oui faudrale temps".

5. But this awaitingof the truthof the originin the end is already
underminedby a bracketingof the words used to affirmit. The

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analystacts as scribe,inserting
the (im)properpunctuation-here
And withthisre-
quotationmarks-inthe analysand'sassociations.
courseto diacritical
marks,teleologyand archeologyare bothdis-
placed,alienatedin a compulsiverepetition
(y faireretour).Such
repetition,in its driven quality (lui faudra, oui faudra le temps),
the register
constitutes of theFreudiansymptom
and, morefunda-
of thedriveitself.
mentally,

6. Car entendezque je joue du cristalde la langue pour refracter

du
signifiant
ce qui divisele sujet.

6. The divisionof the subject,the factof dynamicrepression,

is a
functionof le signifiant,
in a manner(as we shall see) whose objective
correlative
Lacan's shattered
prosewouldconstitute.

7. Y faudrale temps,c'est du frangaisque je vous cause, pas du cha-

grin,j'espere.
7. The pun on cause, meaningboth to cause (pain) and to speak
(French),is indicativeof Lacan's efforts
to situatethe "psychical
reality"which,forFreud,constituted thebedrockof analysis,in a
(linguistic)
register
akin to Levi-Strauss's
symbolic(symbolique).

8. Ce qui faudrade ce qu'il fautle temps,c'est 1a la failledontse dit

1'etre, et bien que 1'usage d'un futurde cette formepour le verbe:
faillirne soitpas recommande' dans un ouvragequi s'adresseaux belges,
il y est accordeque la grammaire a le proscrirefaudraita ses devoirs...

8. Faudra, the futuretense (temps) of the verb faillir(to fall short,

to lack), is presentlybeing eclipsed by the formfaillira.Faudra is as
well, of course,the futuretense of falloir(to be necessary).What is
perpetuallyre-evokedis the necessityof a lack, rift,or failing-for
faille is as well the subjunctiveof falloir.And the object of this af-
firmation,at once ludicrous and tragic,is, at differentlevels, the
symptomaticbreachin theindividual'sspeech,the threatposed by
to
castration
(symbolic) his and,mostfundamentally,
bodilyintegrity,
theirreducible
inadequation of human(Oedipal)desireto its object.

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Morecentrally, we mayalreadysuggest thatwithitspolymorphous

repetition,thephrasefautle tempsitselfwillchangeitsmeaning.The
initialcall forpatiencewillundergoa semantic in
erosion,resulting
a secondary sense: thebeat mustbe marked.But thefullthrust of
thatshiftin meaning willnotbe comprehensibleuntiltheendof our
text... apres coup.

s'articulede ce qui de I'8trevient

9. C'est ainsi que l'inconscient
au dire.
IO. Ce qui du tempsluifait6toffe
n'estpas emprunt mais
d'imaginaire,
plutatd'un textileou' nmudsne diraientrienque des trousqui s'y
trouvent.
9-10. If fabric(9toffe) be a suitablemetaphor foranythingthatoccurs
in analysis, it is notin thesenseof a stunning materialwhosecolor
(say,in a garment) mightvisuallyfascinate ournarcissism. (Thusthe
progress of thedreamanalysis, in thearticlebelowbyLaplancheand
Leclaire,willdependon goingbeyondtheimaginary plenitude ofthe
mythic figureof theunicorn.) No, fabricis a validmetaphor in its
suggestion oftheweaveofa text(ile). Thusthe(absent)knots(nceuds)
invokedare not at all theSartrean whirligigsof whichR. D. Laing
writes,but ratherthosestructuring pointsof intersectionin dream
analyseswhichFreudcalled nodal points(Knotenpunkte). But why
are they said to be absent(trousqui s'y trouvent)?And whyallude
to fabricsin thefirstplace? Is it not by allusionto thenodal term
faille(= coarsesilk),whosepresencein our sentence is as plain as
thepurloined letterin theMinister's chamber?

tempslogiquen'a pas d'En-soique ce qui en choitpour faire

iI. Ce
enchereau masochisme.
11. To forgetthislinguisticdimension, to viewtheend of analysis
as an identification
withtheanalyst's ego-or theforging ofa positive
"identity"-is (En-soi)and a masochistic
to invitea generalreification
bid forapprovalfromtheanalystas master.

12. C'est ce que le psychanalyste

relaie d'y fairefigurede quelqu'un.

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Le "fautdu temps",il le supporteassez longtempspour qu'a celui qui

de ce qu'une chosen'est
vients'y dire,il ne failleplus que de s'instruire
pas rien: justementcelle dontil faitsigne a quelqu'un....

12. For the analyst is not there to respond meaningfullyto the

patient'sdemand,to be someone (quelqu'un). His task is ratherto
sustainthe process wherebythe patient'sdiscoursetransgressesitself.
Such is the crucial mode of repetitionknown as the transference.
In
it the symptomaticslip is revealed not to be nothing(rien) but a
distortedeffortat communication(fairesigne a quelqu'un).
The notionof transference (Ubertragung, literallymeta-phore)has
strategicvalue in the French reading of Freud. For we may recall
that Levi-Strauss'swager was to attemptto articulatethe structure
of language (say, Saussure's "value") and the structureof a com-
municativenetwork(throughMauss's notion of exchange).Now the
termtransference in Freud is unique in that the change of meaning
it will undergoin the evolutionof Freud's thoughtoffersa link be-
tweena kindof relationship withinlanguageand a kindof relationship
between communicants,between what another traditioncalls the
syntacticsand pragmaticsof language.For if transference will even-
tuallymean the symbolicrepetitionof a structuring fantasy,displaced
onto the analyst,and constitutingthe very medium in which the
analysis is pursued,its originalsense, in the Studies on Hysteria,is
displacementitself: the existenceof unconsciousdistortions of mean-
ing. At stake in the ramifying meaningof the termis thus the in-
dividual'sinscription((as nodal term)in the repetitionsand displace-
mentsof an unconscious(linguistic)structureof exchange.Is it any
wonderthat the analyst,whose silence effectsthe disclosureof this
process,seems,duringthe transference, endowedwithmana?

13. Car me voicirevenirau cristalde la languepour,de ce que "falsus"

soit le chu en latin,lier le faux moins au vrai qui le r6fute,qu'A ce
qu'il faut de temps pour faire trace de ce qui a d6faillia s'av6rer
d'abord. A le prendrede ce qu'il est le participepasse de "fallere",
tomber,dont failliret falloirproviennent chacunde son d6tour,qu'on

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note que l'tymologie ne vient ici qu'en soutiende l'effetde cristal

homophonique.
14.C'est le prendrecommeil faut,a faire double ce mot, quand il
s'agit de plaider le faux dans l'interpretation.
C'est justementcomme
"falsa", disons bien tombee,qu'une interpretation opere d'Otrea c6t6,
soit,ouise faitl'tre, du pataqu'est-ce.

13-14.The insistenceof the signifierfautis manifesthereas faux:

thefalse.But we are reminded thatanalysistakesplace in a domain
in whichthe dualityof trueand falseis subordinated to a third
category, the spoken: the timenecessary foran accidentof speech
to revealitselfas symptomatic of something other.The sentenceis a
microcosm of the development in Freud'sthoughtwhichled him
froma (naive)realismbenton tracking downa primalevent(seduc-
tion or scene) to the affirmation of the primacyof transmissible
structuralschemes(primalfantasies), of a "psychicalreality,"
whose
coherence and consistence,
informing both"true"and "false"percep-
tions,nevertheless has an existence,says Freud, independent of
"materialreality."The irruption of thewritten tracein theanalytic
monologue,foreshadowing a development in paragraph17 below,
alludesas wellto one of themoreradicaland persistent notionsin
Freud'sthought:the memory trace,not as an imageof its object,
but as a signconstitutedby its coordinationwithothersigns.
If thetermfauxis nevertheless
retained,it is lessas an indication
of untruth thanbecauseof the relevanceto analysisof thoseslips
(say,fauxpas) whoseuncanny significance
it is theanalyst'staskto
demonstrate. Onlyby becomingan apprenticeship in marginality
(d
cOWte)can analytic strikeitsmark(bientombee).For it
interpretation
is intheseeminglyinsignificant error(pataques)that(Heideg-
linguistic
gerian)Being(l'&re) posesitsquestion("pataqu'est-ce").

i5. N'oublionspas que le sympt6me

est ce "falsus"qui est la "cause"
dontl'analysese soutient
dans le procesde verification
qui faitson
etre....

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remains a
15. For if psychoanalysisis a science, its verifiability
functionof the vicissitudesof just such symptomaticerrors.

i6. Un tempsencore pour ajouter a ce dont Freud se maintient,

un
traitque je croisdecisif:la foiuniquequ'ilfaisaitaux Juifs
de ne pas
faillirau seismede la v6rite.AuxJuifsque par ailleursrienn'6carte
de I'aversionqu'il avouepar 1'emploidu mot:occultisme, pourtout
ce qui estdu mystere. Pourquoi?
16. Un temps,as opposedto thepreviousdu temps, marksthetransi-
tionwe alludedto above (paragraph8): froman open continuum
to a repetition of discretetemporalintervals. This "moment"will
be devotedto an evocationof Freud'ssymptomatic faiththatthe
Jewswouldultimately not be foundwanting in the face of truth's
violentdisclosures(seisme).The following sentence(Aux Juifs...) is
incomprehensible unlesswe decondensethe wordaversioninto (1)
thatpenchant of theJewsto turnawayfromthestudyof theLaw
to mysticism,and (2) theaversionwhichFreudfeltforthatturning
away,and whichled himto referto it as occultism. The metaphorical
truthof the statement is clearin Freud'sproblematic identification
withMoses scorning theidolatrous Jews(in Mosesand Monotheism).
It is manifest
as wellin thepainting of SpinozaBeingJeeredby the
Jewswhichhungin hisoffice. Butrather thanpursueourdocumenta-
tionof Lacan's statement, letus notethatthecondition of possibility
of ourinterpretation-and theanalyticactivityperse-was theresto-
rationof a concealedmetaphor away).Such would
(aversion/turning
be the criticalanalogueto theremovalof repression, and it is for
suchreasonsthatwe referto Lacan's textas theobjective correlative
of theanalyticprocess.

17. Pourquoisinonde ce que le Juifdepuisle retourde Babylone, est

que de la lettreil prenddistancede sa
celuiqui saitlire,c'est-a-dire
juste a y jouer d'une interpretation.
parole,trouvantla l'intervalle,

17. WhythenFreud'sfaithin a peopleso benton "occultism?"Why,

ifnotbecauseof theirtradition
of textualinterpretation,
theirprefer-

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of the letterto the plenitudeof voice,

ence of the fragmentation
openingtextsup to interpretative
play?

i8. D'une seule, celle du Midraschqui se distingueici 6minemment.

I9. En effetpour ce peuple qui a le Livre,seul entretous a s'affirmer
commehistorique,a ne jamais prof6rer de mythe,le Midraschrepre-
sente un mode d'abord dont la modernecritiquehistoriquepourrait
bien n'etre que l'abatardissement. Car s'il prendle Livre au pied de
sa lettre,ce n'est pas pourla fairesupporterd'intentions plus ou moins
patentes,mais pour de sa collusionsignifiante prise en sa materialite:
de ce que sa combinaisonrendobligede voisinage(donc non voulu),de
ce que les variantesde grammaire imposentde choix d6sinentiel, tirer
un dire autre du texte: voire a y impliquerce qu'il n6glige(comme
ref6rence), l'enfancede Moise par exemple.

18-19. If Midrash,in Lacan's meditation,constitutesthe prototypal

interpretative
enterprise,its relevancefor analysislies in its resisting
the temptationto read "deep" (plus ou moins patentes)meanings into
the text.What would be latentfor such interpretation would be less
a meaningbeneaththe manifestcontentthan a hidden organization
of the manifestcontent.And it would be the lacunae of such a
structurewhich would invite the Midrashic interpolations, here as-
similatedto the analyticconstructionof the subject's (i.e., Moses's)
childhood.
Lacan's choice of Midrash,that perpetuationof the Law, as the
exegetictraditionin which Freud mightbe inscribedis significant.
For D. Bakan has (ratherunconvincingly)
interpreted Freud's relation
to Judaismin termsof a continuationof theKabbalistic(mystical)
tradition.
2 Above and beyondthe merits of each text,littlecould
be moresymptomatic of thedivergence
in theFrenchand American
perceptionsof FreudthanLacan's Freudas (metaphorical) repetition
of Midrashand Bakan'sas (metonymical) continuationof Kabbalah.

2 David Bakan, SigmundFreud and the JewishMysticalTradition(New

York, 1965).

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 Yale FrenchStudies

20.N'est-ilriend'en rapprocher ce que de la mortdu meme,Freud

tenaita ce qu'il ffitsu,au pointd'enfaireson messagedernier?...
20. Butis therenota paradoxat theheartoftheMidrashic transmis-
sion of the Law? For in orderto be preserved the textmustbe
interpreted,openedup, violated.And such is the anomaly-a law
perpetuatedin itsowntransgression-which Lacan hintsat inalluding
to Freud'sslayingof Moses-or deconstruction of monotheism-as
feat.Lacan's suggestion
his finalinterpretative gainsin claritywhen
regardedas a commentary on the following passagein Moses and
Monotheism: "The text,however, as we find it todaytellsus enough
aboutits own history. Two distinct forcesdiametrically opposedto
each other,have lefttheirtraceson it. On the one hand,certain
transformationsgot to workon it,falsifying thetextin accordwith
secrettendencies,maimingand extending it untilit was turnedinto
its opposite. On the otherhand, an indulgentpietyreignedover it,
anxious to keep everything to whetherthe
as it stood, indifferent
detailsfitted together
ornullifiedoneanother. Thusalmosteverywhere
therecan be foundstriking omissions,disturbingrepetitions,
palpable
contradictions, signsof thingsthecommunication ofwhichwas never
intended. Thedistortionofa textis notunlikea murder. The difficulty
lies notin theexecution of thedeed butin thedoingawaywiththe
23
traces.. ." Thusto interpret, to discovertheBible'sdivisionagainst
is to cometo terms
itself, withOedipalmurder:thefactofrepression,
of unconscious textualdistortion For therecould
(or displacement).
be no better metaphor fortheabsenceof theHoly One thantheself-
transgressive natureof "His" and all discourseas chartedby Freud:
uncontrolled metaphoricityitself.Even Moses stuttered.

2i. Occasionde passera 1'envers(c'estle proposde mons6minaire de

cetteannme) de la psychanalyseen tantqu'eileestle discours
de Freud,
lui suspendu.Et,sansrecours au Nom-du-Pere dontj'ai ditm'abstenir,
biaisl6gitimea prendre de la topologietrahieparce discours....

23 Freud,Moses and Monotheism(New York, 1955),p. 52.

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21. Justas Freud situatedhis own discoursein thelatentinterpretative

tendencypresentin (and at work against)the Biblical text,so Lacan,
metaphoricallyrepeatingthe tradition,has focused his attentionon
the "netherside"(l'envers)of Freud's own text.For it is preciselyin the
rigor(whencetopologie)withwhichFreud's own discoveryperpetual-
ly and necessarilyescapes him (lui suspendu),as revealed(trahie)in
the structuralrepetitions and displacements-thefantasmatics-ofthe
metapsychology itself,thatthe truthof thatdiscoverylies. The refusal
to invokethe Name-of-the-Father condensesat least threeallusions:
(1) the traditionalJewishrefusalto invoke the name of the Lord;
(2) Lacan's reluctanceto invokein his interpretation thathumanized
displacementof God, theauthor-in thiscase, Freud-as master,"pos-
sessor" of his writings;(3) most subtly,Freud's own inability,in the
prototypalparapraxis of The Psychopathologyof EverydayLife, to
recall the name of the painterSignorelli.The analysis of that slip
is mediatedby a crucialassimilationof the firstfragment of thename
to thatof the Lord (Herzegovinia-Herr-Signor(elli)--Lord).Thus if
the firstallusionplayfullyrecallsFreud as perpetuating the Midrashic
tradition,the thirdlocates Lacan's discourseat the verymomentat
which Freud's words escape him. Whence (2): the irrelevancefor
Lacan, already alluded to above, of the notion of the author (as
"father"of his works).

22. Qu'au dossierde la signifianceici en jeu de la castration,

soit verse
P'effet
de cristalque je touche: de "la" faux du temps.

22. Finally,preparedby the mythologicalcontext,comes the most

surprisingtransformation of the "floatingsignifier"yet: la faux du
temps,thescytheof FatherTime. As Panofskymakesclear,thescythe
of time was originallySaturn's castratingsickle; its temporalres-
onances enteredinto play only when Saturn(in Greek: Kronos) was
confused-in a fatefulpun-with Chronos (time).24

24 Panofsky,op. cit.,p. 75.

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 Yale French Studies

Now I would suggestthatthe whole of Lacan's textbe considered

in termsof a problematicline quoted earlierfromLevi-Strauss'stext
on Mauss: "the signifier(le signifiant)precedes and determinesthe
signified(le signifik)."It will be recalled thatif we retainSaussure's
definitionsof these terms,the sentenceis untrue of the linguist's
system.For one side of a sheet of paper, to recall Saussure's image,
cannot logicallyprecede the other side. If we retain Levi-Strauss's
(re)definitions of the terms-to simplify: signifiantas unconscious
structure; signifkeas individual consciousness-the statementhas
meaningfor Saussure's textbut concernsa problemhe did not deal
with. In Lacan's text,however,both interpretations are true to the
extentthat unconsciousfantasy,the structuralground of analysis,
tends to become manifestas the apparentlymeaninglessinsistence
of a fragment of speech(fautdu temps).Analysis-or, moremodestly,
Lacan's text-could in factbe describedas thediscoveryof thedouble
truthof Levi-Strauss'smaxim: the realizationthat one's hope for
individualprogress(towarda savingsignifie)was always alreadybut
the means by whicha primalfantasy(signifiant)perpetuateditselfin
a timeless(Freud: zeitlos),intersubjective unconscious.For thisis the
tragicmomentwhen the verywords by whichthe individualaffirms
his patience(fautle temps:timeis necessaryforthe truthto out) are
revealed to be the vehicle of that (Ca) which demonstratesabsurdly
the uselessnessof any patience (faut le temps: the tempo must be
marked,the patient'sdiscoursepunctuatedby a compulsiverepetition
in a reversibletimein whichthatdiscourse-uncannily-falters).Thus
Levi-Strauss'ssignifiantis seen to "precede and determine"(his)
signifie at preciselythe momentin which Saussure's signifteis deter-
mined by (his) signifiant.Freud's termfor this difficultmomentof
inscription of theindividualintoan unconsciousstructure of exchange
is the "castrationcomplex": the culminationof the Oedipus complex,
whichissues in the devastatingloss of incestuousaccess to the mother.
Whence Lacan's invocationof "la faux du temps,"Father Saturn's
scytheof time,whose slash betweenthereversibletimeof unconscious
fantasyand the irreversibletime of the ego, betweenLevi-Strauss's

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Jeffrey
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signifiantand Levi-Strauss'ssignifie,finds its precise place in our

iconographyin Saussure'sfamousbar betweensignifiant and signifie.
If the readeris at all sensitiveto the absurdity, and
grotesqueness,
sheer terrorwhich hinge on that fragmentof language (the definite
articlein "la faux du temps"),he is well on his way to appreciating
Lacan's poetics. For the femininehere (la), designatingthe absence
of absences for the analyst, mediates all those crucial modes of
constitutive lack (Lacan: manque a etre)our commentary has delin-
eated. Of thesethe one we shall concludeby evokingis theloss of the
securityof a metalanguage.For Lacan's maxim that "there is no
metalanguage"has foundits illustration in the textwe have chosen:
in the mannerin whichthe "truth"of the analyticexperiencerecurs
"endlessly"(Freud: unendlich)in the verywordsin whichthepatient
affirmshis willingnessto wait for a disclosureof "truth"in (or as)
theend. It is as thoughforthe analystwe can attainthroughlanguage
no distance fromthat in language which alienates us. Whence the
refusalto read Freud as a humanist.25
And our own metalanguage?In our quest for the signifiant, we
have seen in Lacan's use of the terma complexitywhich subsumes
the divergentuses of Saussure and Levi-Strauss.(For despite the
differences betwenthe realms on which the analystand the anthro-
pologistfocus,it is clear thatat a levelwe mightreferto as thepoetics
of theirthought,the two textswe have examinedbeg comparison.)
Yet the apparentdevelopmentor complicationof the termhas taken
place throughand against a fundamentalrepetition,whose emblem,
in our two texts,mightbe Moses slain. As for the relationbetween
that developmentand that repetition-andconsequently, the relation
betweenwhat we have writtenand what we have written"about"-it
is a questionwe shall at presentleave open. For to begin to answer
it... faudraitle temps.

25See C. Backes, "Lacan ou le 'Porte-parole',"Critique,249, 1968.

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