This is Jacques Lacan’s contribution to an international symposium entitled “The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man,”. The sessions were convened under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins Humanities Center, in Baltimore (USA), during the week of October 18-21, 1966.

A comment on this text : There is a quite precise commentary around Lacan’s maxim “the unconscious is structured like/as a language”, and some obscure statements about méconnaissance that I found interesting.

Further comment : It was here with the ‘Enjoy Coca Cola’, that Lacan emphasised the push-to-enjoyment of modern capitalism.

Index

Publication & Availability
Further publications and their introductory notes
Information on the Baltimore conference
Jacques Lacan – the presenter (as published in 1970)
References in the text
Commentary
Further use of ‘Inmixing’
Quotation from this text
Related texts
Citations

Publication & Availability

Available as follows:

  • Full text with discussion including all Lacan’s contributions available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (21st October 1966)
  • Bilingual, presentation & discussion at p11 of www.Freud2Lacan.com /Lacan (10. Lacan’s 2 interventions and presentation (Of Structure as an Inmixing of an Otherness Prerequisite to Any Subject Whatever) at the October 1966, The Language of Criticism and the Sciences of Man Conference in Baltimore) :

NOTE : This includes, p1-3, A few notes on the 1966 Baltimore conference (inside and outside the conference, or better yet, the conference on a Moebius strip) : Richard Klein : April 2022

The homepage of École lacanienne de la psychanlyse, via Google translate,

Very many texts by Lacan, excluding seminars, remained untraceable until, from November 1998 to May 2001, a small team of members of the ELP compiled a list of more than 400 interventions by Lacan on disparate stages ( interviews, conferences, letters, telegrams, and even pneumatics, etc.). This census includes some texts that had never been publicly disseminated as the first versions of others that had become untraceable.

Most of the texts grouped here have been scanned, proofread by two people to check conformity with the original, finally reviewed for final checks and formatted. A few were keyed in again. A few spelling errors and printing errors may remain, probably hardly more than those that can be found in source editions, including in public editions. More delicate are the “errors” on the source text, a star type note: ✳, specifies this kind of occurrence.

Here is an example: 1968-03-16 Interview in the Journal Le Monde a typo: “identification with the analyst’s evil” instead of “identification with the analyst’s self”. The original punctuation of the transcriptions, even when it seemed grossly wrong, was therefore left as is. In rare cases, rather than a star-type footnote, low-height brackets […] have been used for a deletion and the pointed brackets < … > for an addition: the traces are there. Since 2001 very few “new features” have been added, but the whole of this corpus has been widely reproduced on other sites on the Internet.

A compilation of the whole in PDF format for finding occurrences in “advanced search of Acrobat Reader” mode is also available.

From Pas-Tout Lacan, home page https://ecole-lacanienne.net/en/bibliolacan/pas-tout-lacan-2/

Further Publication & their Introductory Notes

The text in R. Macksey & E. Donato (Editors) has been republished The Lacanian Review No 12, June 2022, p23-37 with an introduction by Colin Wright :

This talk was given at a symposium–‘The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man’, held at the Johns Hopkins University in October 1966–that would prove seminal in the introduction of French structuralism into US academia. Thanks to his well-founded presentiment that “soon there will be some sort of fad about this word,” Lacan is at pains here to clarify his understanding of structure and the implications of approaching the unconscious through it. For this mainly academic audience, he carefully distinguishes linguistic structure from the message in information theory, with the former implying both a subject and an Other; as well as the subject of psychoanalysis from the subject of “intentional unity” underlying much of philosophy and phenomenology his listeners were more accustomed to. If he famously claims that “the best image to sum up the unconscious is Baltimore in the early morning,” it is partly to help them grasp the Other of the unconscious a concretely embedded or “inmixed” in a given social link rather than as abstractly metaphysical. However, because this image is a little too poetic to dispel the clouds of obscurantism already gathering around the notion of structure, he leans instead on mathematics Drawing on Frege’s demonstration of the construction of whole natural numbers, he shows the constitutive role of the subject of structure in the apparently reciprocal two of the imaginary: “here we reach a fact of psychoanalytic experience in as much as the two does not complete the one to make the two, but must repeat the one to permit the one to exist.” Language is not inter-subjective communication between two then, but first and foremost the one of a mark that introduces a loss of jouissance and the structuring of its repetition. The closing discussion with the philosophers, literary critics, and historians that constituted his audience in Baltimore testifies to the difficulties of translating a knowledge derived from the analytic experience into the university discourse—a difficulty which would soon acquire the moniker, in American academia, of so-called “French Theory.”

Colin Wright, The Lacanian Review No 12, 6th June 2022, p22

**

École lacanienne de la psychanalyse’s introductory Note for this Text

via Google translate from https://ecole-lacanienne.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1966-10-21.pdf This is Lacan’s text in English (without the discussion) & including a French translation : the heading –

Communication made at the International Symposition of the John Hopkins Humanities Center in Baltimore (USA), “Of Structure as an Inmixing of an Otherness Prerequisite to Any Subject Whatever”. Appeared in The Languages ​​of Criticism and the Sciences of Man: The structuralist Controversy, edited by R. Macksey and E. Donato, Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1970, pp. 186-195. Lacan’s interventions were made in English and French. We have not identified the translation to French that we offer after the “English” text but which claims to “represent a transcription and edited paraphrase of his speech”.

Footnote 1 : Since Dr. Lacan, as he remarks in his introduction, chose to deliver his communication alternately in English and French (and at points in a composite of the two languages), this text represents an edited transcription and paraphrase of his address.

Information on the Baltimore conference

– All the contributions are published in:

‘The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man: the Structuralist Controversy’ : edited by Richard Macksey and Eugenio Donato : The Johns Hopkins Press Baltimore and London : 1970.

The index which shows the contributors and their titles is shown in : Richard Macksey & Eugenio Donato (Eds) : ‘The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man – the Structuralist Controversy’ : 1970. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19661018) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (October 1966) or /Other Authors A-Z (Donato or Macksey) This book is now available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /text by request. Your request through the Contact page on Home.

– Other interventions by Jacques Lacan

Charles Morazé : Literary Invention : 18th October 1966 (Baltimore, USA) & Discussion by Jacques Lacan. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19661018) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (October 1966)

Lucien Goldman : Structure – Human Reality and Methodological Concept :19th October 1966 (Baltimore, USA) with Comments by Jacques Lacan. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19661018) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (October 1966)

Presenter, Jacques Lacan, as published in 1970

Jacques Lacan :, the founder of l’École Freudienne de Paris (EFP), is one of the most seminal and controversial figures in contemporary French intellectual life. During his visit to Baltimore, he also lectured at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital.

In 1970, his publications are given as

‘De la psychose paranoiaque dans ses rapports avec la personnalité’, Paris: Le François, 1932 :

See The Case of Aimée, or Self-punitive Paranoia : 7th July1932 : Jacques Lacan. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (July 1932) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (July 1932)

‘Écrits’, Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1966 :

See Écrits : October 1966 : Jacques Lacan. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19661001) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (October 1966)

‘The Language of the Self: The Function of Language in Psychoanalysis’, translated by Anthony Wilden, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1968 :

See The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis (Rome) : 26th September 1953 : Jacques Lacan. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19530926)

The book which is actually quoted is ‘The Language of the Self – The function of language in psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan’ : 1968 : Anthony Wilden. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Wilden) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Other Authors A-Z (Wilden)

References within this Text

Seminar III 11th April 1956, P193 of Russell Grigg’s translation is quoted in this text. See Seminar III The Psychoses (1955-1956) : from 16th November 1955 : Jacques Lacan, at this site /4 Jacques Lacan (Index or 19551116) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan

Commentary

Jacques Lacan cuts between the real(ly)-symbolic (RS) & symbolic(ally)-real (SR) (a cartel ending/work-in-progress presentation) : 17th July 2019 (London) : Julia Evans. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Evans Julia or Index of Julia Evans’ texts)

A few notes on the 1966 Baltimore conference (inside and outside the conference, or better yet, the conference on a Moebius strip) : Richard Klein : April 2022 – p1-3 of www.Freud2Lacan.com /Lacan (10. Lacan’s 2 interventions and presentation (Of Structure as an Inmixing of an Otherness Prerequisite to Any Subject Whatever) at the October 1966, The Language of Criticism and the Sciences of Man Conference in Baltimore)

Commentary : Thomas Svolos: Meeting the Subjectivity of our Time : 6th June 2022. Published in The Lacanian Review No 12, p149-160, June 2022. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Svolos) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (October 1966).

The word ‘inmixing’

Jacques Lacan uses inmixing in Seminar III

Seminar III : 11thApril 1956 : See Seminar III The Psychoses (1955-1956) : from 16th November 1955 : Jacques Lacan, this site /4 Jacques Lacan (Index or 19551116) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan : p193 of Russell Grigg’s translation :

What we have encountered in this symptomatology always implies what I indicated to you last year in relation to the dream of Irma’s injection – the inmixing [Footnote 5] of subjects.

It’s characteristic of the intersubjective dimension that you have a subject in the real capable of using the signifier as such, that is, to speak, not so as to inform you, but precisely so as to lure you. This possibility is what is distinctive about the existence of the signifier. But this isn’t all. As soon as there is a subject and use of the signifier, use of the between-I [l’entre-je] is possible, that is to say, of the interposed subject. This inmixing of subjects is one of the most obvious elements in the dream of Irma’s injection. Recall the three practitioners called in one by one by Freud, who wants to know what it is that’s in Irma’s throat. And these three farcical characters operate, defend theses, talk only nonsense. They are the between-I’s, who play an essential role here.

Footnote 5 : “immixtion;” term used by Damourette and Pichon for the semantically different ways the subject’s participation in an event or action can be described by a verb alone or by one of the verbs “faire,” “voir,” or “laisser” plus an infinitive: e.g., “operer,” “faire operer,” “voir operer,” and “laisser operer.” See Essai de grammaire de la langue francoise 5:791-817.

Quotation from this Text

P17-19 of www.Freud2Lacan.com is quoted in the notes at Simultaneous Folie à Deux : 21st May 1931 (Paris) : Doctors H. Claude, P. Migault and J. Lacan. (See this site /4 Jacques Lacan /(19310521) in developing the term ‘Folie à Deux’

Related texts

– ‘The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man : the Structuralist Controversy’ edited by Richard Macksey and Eugenio Donato : The Johns Hopkins Press Baltimore and London: 1970. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19661018 or Index) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Other Authors A-Z (Donato or Macksey). The book can be downloaded from www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /texts by request (Jacques Lacan – October 1966) Request via Contact Page

– Bilingual text, without the subsequent discussion, is available http://ecole-lacanienne.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1966-10-21.pdf , published by École lacanienne de la psychanalyse.

– THE FRENCH INVASION, Essay by Cynthia L. Haven — Published on 11th December 2017 – http://quarterlyconversation.com/the-french-invasion Also Evolution of Desire, the Life of Rene Girard by Cynthia L. Haven, Michigan State University Press (2018)-contains a lot of very funny and interesting stories about who organized this conference and how Lacan and Derrida stole the show and the ruckus that occurred right after Lacan’s presentation. The book can be downloaded from www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /texts by request (Jacques Lacan – October 1966) Request via Contact page

– Jacques Lacan cuts between the real(ly)-symbolic (RS) & symbolic(ally)-real (SR) (a cartel ending/work-in-progress presentation) : 17th July 2019 (London) : Julia Evans. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Evans Julia or Index of Julia Evans’ texts)

– A few notes on the 1966 Baltimore conference (inside and outside the conference, or better yet, the conference on a Moebius strip) by Richard Klein : April 2022 p1-3 of www.Freud2Lacan.com /Lacan (10. Lacan’s 2 interventions and presentation (Of Structure as an Inmixing of an Otherness Prerequisite to Any Subject Whatever) at the October 1966, The Language of Criticism and the Sciences of Man Conference in Baltimore)

– Commentary : Thomas Svolos : Meeting the Subjectivity of our Time : 6th June 2022. Published in The Lacanian Review No 12, p149-160, June 2022. Download at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /lacan (October 1966) Further texts by Thomas Svolos at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /authors a-z (Svolos)

Citations

For all texts presented at this conference –

‘The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man : the Structuralist Controversy’ : 1970 : edited by Richard Macksey and Eugenio Donato : The Johns Hopkins Press Baltimore and London. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19661018 or Index) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Other Authors A-Z (Donato or Macksey)

Lacan’s Seminar on “The Purloined Letter” – Overview : 1988 : John P. Muller and William J. Richardson. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Muller or Richardson) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Other Authors A-Z

Notes on Seminar VII 18th November 1959, p7-15 (Wo es war …, & polymorphous perversion, & Jouissance/Happiness definition) : 6th October 2012 : Julia Evans. See this site /Other Authors A-Z (Evans Julia or Index of Julia Evans’ texts)

Jacques Lacan cuts between the real(ly)-symbolic (RS) & symbolic(ally)-real (SR) (a cartel ending/work-in-progress presentation) : 17th July 2019 (London) : Julia Evans. See this site /Other Authors A-Z (Evans Julia or Index of Julia Evans’ texts)