Interpreting Literature through a Lacanian Lens
Table of Contents
When exploring a literary work from a Lacanian perspective, a reliable approach, especially for beginners, is to examine how the text might be structured by key Lacanian concepts. Several questions can guide this exploration: Which characters, events, or episodes embody the Imaginary Order , representing private, fantasy, or delusional worlds? Where do we see the influence of the Symbolic Order in characters' behavior and narrative events, reflecting ideology and social norms? How is the relationship between the Imaginary and Symbolic Orders portrayed in the text? Can we discover where characters have invested their unconscious desire for objet petit a , the idealized mother of infancy? Does any part of the text operate as a representation of the Real , that unknowable dimension of existence that induces anxiety and terror? Literary Examples through a Lacanian Lens Examining two literary examples sheds light on how Lacanian concepts can be applied to interpret literature: Example 1: "Th…