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moment a t whi ch it ends. Fo r th a t is wh en identifi ca ti on w ith " the
imago
of th e counterpa rt a nd th e d rama of pr imordi a l jea lousy"
determ ines th e fo rmati o n of th e
I
a nd the reso luti on of the Oedi p us
com p lex. " Prima ry n arciss ism by whi ch a na lyti c doct rin e des igna tes
th e libi d in a l in ves tment ch a racter isti cs," awa reness of separa ti on from
th e Other (a concept Lacan a lways lets hi s a udien ce defin e for itself),
and sema nti c laLen cies (non -ver ba li zed tho ught associa ti ons) are a l–
legedl y inves ted in thi s moment-"with a ll the ambiva len ces and
dyn ami c oppos iti on s of th e Oedi pa l complex." Lacan 's idea of the
exi sten ce o f "separa te libidos o f la ngu age a nd of sexua lity" legitima tes
the centra lit y o f language and speech in psychoan a lys is itsel f. (The
no ti o n of sepa rate and interact ing libi dos is even more diffi cult to
pro\'(' th an th e exi stence o f a sin g le libido.) T he skepti c is "convin ced"
by frequ ent res tatement s o f lin gui sti c a nd Freud ian truth s, such as " th e
un con sciou s is no t merely th e sea t of th e instin ns"; " the subj ect's
speech ma kes its entran ce into la ng uage and its strun ure at a certa in
po int in hi s menta l development a nd cultura l experi en ce"; "every
spo ken word is full of meanin g ... its uttera nce is roo ted in a sp ecifi c
cont ex t. " Alth o ugh th ese trui sms reaffirm th e Oedi pa l ma trix and the
inexha u sti bilit y o f the uncon sc iou s, the ba bel of intern a l ambi guiti es
multi p les furth er through Lacan 's " di scourse with the O th er. "
Laca n loca tes thi s di scourse in th e speech o f the p a ti ent , in th e
an a lys t's rep ly or hi s sil ence (he is the Oth er ), and in th e rea lit y th e
pa ti ent w ill eventu a ll y ascribe to it. When he descends from lo ft y
gen era li za ti o n s to psychoan a lyti c p ran ice, he addresses himself to
cl ini ca l techniques,
to
the importan ce o f
Durcharbeilen,
or to the
da nger of intell enua li zing. At times , he pays homage to Anna Freud ,
but h e is closer to Melani e Kl ein , whose no ti on o f the formati on o f th e
imago
in the womb as th e o ri g ina l
Urb i Ld
o f the superego, for exampl e,
supports hi s own th eori es. But hi s clinica l o bserva ti ons eas il y sli p back
into g lo ba l gen era li za ti on s. " Aggress ivity in psychoana lys is" can move
from a p a ti ent's o bsess ive phantas ies th rough Laca n 's own free assoc ia–
ti on s, to become but a mi crocosm o f the hi story o f civili za ti on , as the
rumina ti o n s on bi o logy, mytho logy a nd anima l psycho logy eventua ll y
"open up to the being o f no thingness," to Sartrea n ph ilosoph y. So
there are wide ga p s between Laca n 's lectures on
psychana Lyse
and
La
chose Freudien ne,
and hi s clini ca l exp eri en ce.
Still , Laca n 's unique fl a ir has crea ted excitement-by breedin g
bo th di scipl es and di ss idents. T h e res ulting po lemi cs add to Lacan 's
vi sibilit y a nd popul arit y. As the leader o f the current psychoana lyti c
cult. h e turns th e sea rch fo r the self into a p leas ura bl e p rocess, as if
