Another Instance of the Letter: Lacan and Chinese Writing

Abstract

Beginning with Lacan’s infamous provocation in Seminar XVIII—“peut-être, je ne suis lacanien que parce que j’ai fait du chinois autrefois”—this paper examines the stakes of his long but fragmented engagement with Chinese writing, specifying his concerns by distinguishing them from the political dreams of his contemporaries. How does this engagement differ from the comparison or application of knowledge?

Keywords:

• Jacques Lacan
• Roman Jakobson
• psychoanalysis
• calligraphy
• linguistics
• hanzi

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Will Greenshields

Will Greenshields teaches foreign literature at Zhejiang University and is the author of Writing the Structures of the Subject: Lacan and Topology. His research interests include psychoanalysis and contemporary literary theory.