Jacques lacan the mirror stage as formative in the. In 1949, lacan presented a new paper on the mirror stage, the mirrorstage, as formative of the i, as revealed in psychoanalytic experience, to the sixteenth ipa congress in zurich. Lacan refers to this conference in the first sentence of the essay. Lacans interest in freud and distaste for postfreudian ego psychologists are briefly mentioned, and his clinical work on the mirror stage is discussed in depth. Like the real, lacan stressed the ongoing nature of the mirror stage throughout our lives as we constantly strive for this ideali. Deeply controversial, lacans work has transformed psychoanalysis, both as a theory of the unconscious mind and as a clinical practice. The key observation of lacans essay concerns the behaviour. In this video, i explore the theory behind psychoanalyst jacques lacan s the mirror stage. Jacque lacan derives the concept of the split by recasting central freudian concepts such as unconsciousness and the compulsion to repeat. Although it may seem strange at first to analyze mary shelleys frankenstein from a psychoanalytic perspective, the founder of psychoanalysis, sigmund freud, and french psychoanalyst jacques lacan theories of the mirror stage and the oedipal complex enable frankenstein to be read as a novel embracing psychoanalytic theories. Lacans concept of mirror stage literary theory and. Understanding the mirror stage of lacan english literature essay. Jacques lacan jacques lacan19011981\the mirror stage as.
Lacan s mirror stage can be understood as an ironic version of this theology. This is why we present the books compilations in this website. What lacan means by the mirror stage english literature essay. Lacans concept of mirror stage literary theory and criticism. Lacan, jacques internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Jacques marie emile lacan april, 1901 to september 9, 1981 was a major figure in parisian intellectual life for much of the twentieth century. The mirror stage as formative of the function of the i as.
While discussing jacque lacans the mirror stage for the second time this semester i started thinking about my own younger brothers introduction to the mirror a few years ago. According to lacan, one can hear the unconscious in repetitions, in the way desire has accommodated itself to the drives. Robert louis stevenson, jacques lacan, rouben mamoulian, strange case. My intention in this article is to evaluate lacan s theory of the mirror stage in accordance with current philosophy of mind theories and findings from the field of psychology.
This is a summary of the version of lacan s paper presented in the norton anthology of theory and criticism, 2001. An introduction to jacques lacans the mirror stage youtube. He has some genuinely good ideas notably the mirror stage, the short session, and the conception of psychoanalysis removed from medicine. This bibliography was generated on cite this for me on wednesday, may 17, 2017. Jacques lacan, the mirror stage free download as pdf file. In this lecture on psychoanalytic criticism, professor paul fry explores the work of jacques lacan. Jacques lacan stages such an adventure in his infamous text, the mirror stage as. Sep 22, 2016 in this video, i explore the theory behind psychoanalyst jacques lacan s the mirror stage. Introduction to jacques lacan, module on psychosexual development.
Returning to a tighter focus on the mirror stage proper, lacan, relying on empirical data from the latenineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries, posits that very young children, between the. Analysis of jacque lacan s the mirror stage 1644 words 7 pages. Lacan himself made explicit the significance of this statement in his famous dictum. May 17, 2001 lacan was the vanguard of the french neofreudian lay psychoanalyst movement.
The conception of the mirrorphase which i introduced at our last congress, years ago, has since become more or less established in the. It will no question ease you to see guide jacques lacan as you such as. Mirror stage and instance of the letter the mirror stage the. Jacques lacan 190181 is arguably the most important psychoanalyst since sigmund freud 18561939, the originator and founding father of psychoanalysis. The presence of jacques lacans mirror stage and gaze in. In other words, this recognition of the selfs image precedes the entrance into language, after which the subject can understand the place of that image of the self within a larger social order, in which the subject must negotiate his or her relationship with others. He presented a paper on the mirror stage on august 3, 1936, at a conference of the international psychoanalytical association in marienbad. Mirror stage is indicative of a time in a childs life when i has not been fully formed nor objectified. Jacques lacan, the mirrorphase as formative of the function. Chiasmus, artificial memory, and the arts of arrangement. The only essential texts missing from the edition of the ecrits with only selections are, by my estimation, the essay on poe and the essay on kant and sade. Lacans article the mirror stage as formative of the i 1936, 1949 lays out the parameters of a doctrine that he never foreswore, and which has subsequently become something of a poststructuralist mantra. The selection, authorized by lacan, is necessary reading for anyone concerned with psychoanalysis and its radical effect on all the other human sciences. These are the sources and citations used to research mirror stage.
Most of the texts date from the 1950s and 1960sa crucial turning point in lacan s development. The mirror stage, continued although jacques lacan can be characterized as a philosopher because his life work was based on reinterpreting the canonical writings of a philosopher, sigmund freud 18561939. Jacques lacan and the mirror stage eng 2205 class blog. In this video, i explore the theory behind psychoanalyst jacques lacans the mirror stage. He states that selfrecognition can occur when a person is as young as six months old and sees his or her reflection in a mirror and experiences in play the relation between the movements assumed in the image and the reflected environment, and between. The conception of the mirror stage i introduced at our last congress thirteen years ago, having. Since art imitates life, an in depth exploration of the way that these scenes play out can illuminate how lacans abstract theories might look in the real life formation of identity and in malefemale relations. Drawing on work in physiology and animal psychology, lacan proposes that human infants pass through a stage in which an external image of the body reflected in a mirror. This occurrence between the child, the childs reflection and his progression is what lacan calls the mirror stage. Jacquesmarieemile lacan was a french psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and doctor, who made prominent contributions to the psychoanalyt. Lacans the mirror stage suggests that selfrecognition serves as the cause of human consciousness. Its also essential reading for anyone interested in lacan due to the prevalence of the mirror stage s concepts found throughout his entire oeuvre. Theresa thompson english 7010 spring 2011 jacques lacan. The imago is the transformation of the subject as he evolves intoreflects image mirrored image.
To stay at this more general metapsychological level for a little while longer, lacan eventually forges, partly on the basis of the mirror stage, a distinction between the ego moi and the subject sujet, a word freighted with philosophical baggagelacan knowingly adds this word and its philosophical vocabulary to analytic discourse. This is intended as an aide for students of literary criticism, to make it easier for them to comprehend a source often considered. Lacans reinterpretation of freud, with the central focus on language, brought about a poststructuralist turn to psychoanalytic theory. Doc summary of lacans the mirror stage as formative of. Mirror stage psychology bibliographies cite this for me. Engl 300 lecture jacques lacan in theory open yale.
In order to recognize myself, i have to be separate from my self. The conception of the mirror phase which i introduced at our last congress, years ago, has since become more or less established in the practice of the french group. Apr 22, 2016 home literary criticism lacans concept of mirror stage. Jacques lacan in dialogue with paul tillich and hannah arendt duration. Lacans ideas about the formation of the i developed over time in conjunction with his other elaborations of freudian theory.
The mirror stage is based on the belief that infants recognize themselves in a mirror literal or other symbolic contraption which induces apperception the turning of oneself into an object that can be viewed by the child from outside themselves from the age of about six months. Jacques lacan 19011981 the mirror stage as formative of the function of the i as revealed in psychoanalytic experience delivered at the 16th international congress of psychoanalysis, zurich, july 17, 1949 discussion questions 1. According to lacan, the mirror stage is characterized by an identification with the ideali, or a fantasy image of oneself that represents a completeness that the child does not possess but will always strive towards. When the french psychoanalyst and theorist jacques lacan read the news about the sensational murder case of the papin sisters, he was fascinated, and continued to be fascinated, with the way the sisters spoke. The mirror stage is an identification stage lacan 1949, 344.
A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Bookmark file pdf jacques lacan jacques lacan when people should go to the book stores, search commencement by shop, shelf by shelf, it is in reality problematic. Pdf is lacans theory of the mirror stage still valid. Drawing on work in physiology and animal psychology, lacan proposes that human infants pass through a stage in which an external image of the body reflected in a mirror, or represented to the infant through the mother or primary caregiver produces a psychic response that gives rise to the mental representation of an i. The mirror stage as formative in the function of the i as revealed. Mar 19, 20 this is best understood when viewed through the lens of jacques lacans theory of the mirror stage. In his paper titled mirror stage 1949, lacan expounds the concept of the mirror stage that occurs between 618 months of a childs development, when the child begins to draw rudimentary distinction between the self and the other, as it encounters its image in the mirror.
I think it nevertheless worthwhile to bring it again to your attention, especially today, for the light that it. The mirror stage is based on the belief that infants. Lacans concept of mirror stage by nasrullah mambrol on april 22, 2016 5. This imago is shown in shakespeares play richard ii in act 4 scene 1 where he smashes the mirror, a representation of him losing his kingship which was his ideal self. Lacan the mirror stage jacques lacan psychoanalysis. The idea of the mirror stage is an important early component in lacan s critical reinterpretation of the work of freud. The mirror stage as formative of the function of the i as revealed in psychoanalytic. Lacan, the split between the eye and the gaze annotation by. If we turn to the index at the back of the ecrits that jacquesalain miller has carefully compiled, we find references to the mirror stage stretched. Drawing on work in physiology and animal psychology, lacan proposes that human infants pass through a stage in which an external image of the body reflected.
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