Lacan, the Devil
[excerpt]

Annaëlle Lebovits-Quenehen

translated by Asunción Alvarez

[…]How can one then come to know Lacan? What is known about him that makes him lovable or hatable? For some people, meeting a Lacanian analyst is the crucial point. One must agree to meet a Lacanian, that is to say, for those hostile to Lacan, a disciple of the Devil. It is his style, beyond his teaching, that is the object of the manifestation of feelings that the mere mention of the name of Lacan can trigger. This style is known through certain enigmatic formulas: "God is unconscious," "Truth has the structure of a fiction," "There is no Other of the Other"…

Also, everyone or almost everyone has heard about him. "Style is the man himself," Lacan reminded us, not without malice. Lacan was an original, he knew a few things. His art collection, including The Origin of the World, his bow ties, his twisted cigars, his oral and written style—clearly Baroque—his hideous temper, the gentleness of which he was capable, his unsurpassable erudition, his short, expensive sessions, his politeness and his demands, the surprise he provided for his analysands, his libido sciendi at all costs, his Mao collars, have left a mark. […]

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