Page 170 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Literary Criticism and Theories

Notes signifier, the algorithm can reveal only the structure of a signifier in transfer". It is because
the signifier and signified are separate "that no signification can be sustained other than by
reference to another signification". Lacan uses an example of two children on a train who
believe, because of their relative positions, that they have reached either a stop called "Ladies"
or one called "Gentlemen." Lacan explains that this example shows how "the signifier sends
forth…incomplete significations". In this example the children each see a sign over a public
restroom. While what is represented by each sign is merely a specific type of restroom, the
signification of the signs for the children is something else altogether. In this way the
signifier (rest room sign) gives, not incorrect, but incomplete signification.
• Lacan brings together the ideas of S/s and signifiers' incomplete significations to form a
chain of signifiers where one signifier merely slides along and signifies other signifiers.
Because of this he clams we must "accept the notion of an incessant sliding of the signified
under the signifier". Lacan notes that Saussure began to articulate this action but stopped
short because his analysis took place only linearly. Lacan argues that to fully understand the
chain of signifiers, one must recall a number of contexts that operate simultaneously. He
claims that for a signifier to fully operate, it must have "passed over to the level of the
signified". This "passing over" "discloses the possibility…[of] us[ing] it in order to signify
something quite other than what it says". This discovery underscores the importance of
metaphor and metonymy because they function precisely by signifying something other
than they claim: part of a whole for metonymy and substitution of unlike things for metaphor.
Metaphor and metonymy are at the heart of the structure of language and their functioning
depends not on equality but on difference and word-to-word relations.
• Lacan goes on to explain how this understanding of the structure of language should be
applied to Freudian psychoanalysis. He notes that from the very beginning of Freud's The
Interpretation of Dreams, Freud proclaims that dreams are to be understood literally. They
are coded meanings and the way to access meaning is through analysis of what is present.
Lacan explains that as in language, "the value of the image as signifier has nothing whatever
to do with its signification" in interpreting dreams. He further notes the similarities between
the mechanisms of dreams and of discourse and states that language is one of the many
forms of representation in dreams. Because of this, Lacan argues that the structure of the
unconscious is also S/s and that neither the unconscious, nor language, can function outside
of this structure .
• Lacan's description of the chain of signifiers in conjunction with his emphasis on metaphor
and metonymy reminded me of Mark Dunn's Ella Minnow Pea: a Novel in Letters. While it
has been years since I last read this novel and the specific details of it escape me, the basic
structure will serve to illustrate Lacan's essay. The novel tracks the correspondence (letters)
between members of a fictitious community as the members are banned from using certain
letters of the alphabet. Immediately one sees the presence of the signified sliding under the
signifier by the double meanings of the term "letters." This double meaning hinges on
metonymy as alphabetic letters make up letters of correspondence. As the novel progresses
and alphabetic letters are lost, the nature of the characters' letters of correspondence change.
As alphabetic letters are banned, their presence in the novel is eliminated which highlights
the Lacanian principle that the absence of the signifier can induce signification. In Ella
Minnow Pea, the absence of certain alphabetic letters in the characters' correspondence
indicates which letters have been banned. Therefore, the absence of the letters (understood
as signifiers) indicates significance, insofar as the absence signifies the law at a given moment
in the novel. As an aside, I must note the relevance of using an epistolary novel about
alphabetic letters occurred to me as an example of Lacan's argument of the presence of the
letter in the unconscious.

164 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY