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.
All the contributions to this symposium 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 : See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Donato or Macksey). Some contributions are available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Authors by Date (October 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.
p194-195 of Macksey & Donato (1970) : ‘Enjoy Coca Cola’
In this brief presentation I have tried to show you what the question of the structure is inside the psychoanalytical reality. I have not, however, said anything about such dimensions as the imaginary and the symbolical. It is, of course, absolutely essential to understand how the symbolic order can enter inside the vécu, lived experienced, of mental life, but I cannot tonight put forth such an explanation. Consider, however, that which is at the same time the least known and the most certain fact about this mythical subject which is the sensible phase of the living being: this fathomless thing capable of experiencing something between birth and death, capable of covering the whole spectrum of pain and pleasure in a word, what in French we call the sujet de la jouissance. When I came here this evening I saw on the little neon sign motto “Enjoy Coca-Cola.” It reminded me that in English, I think, there is no term to designate precisely this enormous weight of meaning which is in the French word jouissance– or in the Latin fruor. In the dictionary I looked up jouir and found “to possess, to use,” but it is not that at all. If the living being is something at all thinkable, it will be above all as subject of the jouissance; but this psychological law that we call the pleasure principle (and which is only the principle of displeasure) is very soon to create a barrier to all jouissance. If I am enjoying myself a little too much, I begin to feel pain and I moderate my pleasures. The organism seems made to avoid too much jouissance. Probably we would all be as quiet as oysters if it were not for this curious organization which forces us to disrupt the barrier of pleasure or perhaps only makes us dream of forcing and disrupting this barrier. All that is elaborated by the subjective construction on the scale of the signifier in its relation to the Other and which has its root in language is only there to permit the full spectrum of desire to allow us to approach, to test, this sort of forbidden jouissance which is the only valuable meaning that is offered to our life.
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 (20th October 1966)
- Bilingual, presentation & discussion at p11 of www.Freud2Lacan.com /Lacan (92. 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
- Text, without the subsequent discussion, but with a French translation, is available http://ecole-lacanienne.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1966-10-21.pdf : published by École lacanienne de la psychanalyse. :
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.
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. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Macksey or Donato)
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). This book is now available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /text by request.
– 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 /Authors by date (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 /Authors by date (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 Index of Jacques Lacan’s texts)
‘Écrits’, Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1966 : See Écrits : October 1966 : Jacques Lacan. See this site /4 Jacques Lacan (19661001 or Index of Jacques Lacan’s texts)
‘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 at 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 Index of texts by other Authors)
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 Index of Jacques Lacan’s texts)
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 (92. 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)
Related Text
Meeting the Subjectivity of our Time : 6th June 2022 : Thomas Svolos . See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Svolos or Index of Authors’ texts)
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) : 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.
-Also in Jacques Lacan’s intervention to Literary Invention : 18th October 1966 (Baltimore, USA) : Charles Morazé,
see this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Morazé), p44 of The Structuralist Controversy; edited by Richard Macksay and Eugene Donato; The Johns Hopkins University Press; Baltimore and London, 1970. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Macksay or Donato), I am thinking of the word “in-mixing” [inmiction]**. I think that the first time I introduced this word was precisely in respect to subjects. Subjects, even the Natural History of Buflon was not so “natural” as that, may I add, are not as isolated as we think. But, on the other hand, they are not collective. They have a certain structural form, precisely “inmixing,” which is, properly speaking, that to which a discussion such as that today can introduce us, and I think uniquely in so far as we are not so sure that he who invents is exactly he who is designated by a certain proper name.
Quotation from this Text
P17-19 of the publication at 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) . The book can be downloaded from www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /texts by request (Jacques Lacan – October 1966). NOTE some of the other texts presented are available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Authors by Date (October 1966)
– 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)
– 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 (92. 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 Index of Authors’ texts). Download at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (October 1966)
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)
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 Index of Authors’ texts)
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)