Freud and Lacan

Several psychoanalytic theories developed by Freud and Lacan form the backbone of the characters in my adult literary fiction, Born on the Spring Equinox. The concept of the subconscious, in particular, proved to be an invaluable tool, allowing me to craft subtle nuances and depths within each character. Freud's theory of child sexuality, outlined in his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, and Lacan’s theory on the child’s entry into the symbolic order also played a key role in shaping the complex personalities that populate my story.

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, revolutionised our understanding of the human mind in the late 19th century. He introduced the groundbreaking idea that the mind has a subconscious component influencing our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Freud likened the mind to an iceberg, with the conscious part sticking out above the water and a vast, hidden unconscious below—filled with repressed memories and hidden urges that subtly steer our behaviour.

Although he first used the term "subconscious" in 1893, Freud soon preferred "unconscious" to describe this deep, inaccessible part of the mind. His famous iceberg analogy vividly illustrates how the conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg, overshadowed by a vast unconscious realm beneath the surface.

Freud's theory, often explored through dream analysis and the notion of "Freudian slips," suggests that the unconscious is a complex, organised system that serves as a repository for memories and experiences too painful or taboo for the conscious mind to face. A Freudian slip, or parapraxis, is an unintentional mistake in speech, memory, or action believed to reveal repressed unconscious wishes, thoughts, or feelings. The psychoanalytic approach to dream analysis, developed around 1900, posits that dreams are disguised fulfillments of repressed, often infantile, desires. Dreams act as a "window into the unconscious," where hidden conflicts and desires come to light through symbolic imagery. Freud distinguished between the manifest content—the literal storyline—and the latent content—the underlying meaning.

Jacques-Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who built upon and reinterpreted Freud’s ideas about the unconscious, often describing his work as a "return to Freud" to revive the core of Freudian thought. Lacan transformed our understanding of the unconscious by merging it with structural linguistics and philosophy, famously asserting that "the unconscious is structured like a language."

He reconceptualised the unconscious not as a disorderly storage of raw images, as Freud sometimes suggested, but as a structured system akin to a language. It forms part of the "discourse of the Other," operating through symbolic signifiers, metonymy, and metaphor. Lacan saw the unconscious as trans-subjective, existing between individuals and language rather than being confined solely within the individual mind.

According to Lacan, the unconscious follows linguistic rules, meaning its contents—such as memories and desires—are organised by signifiers (words and symbols) rather than raw images. The "Discourse of the Other" indicates that the unconscious is shaped by the symbolic order—comprising language, social norms, and culture—and exists outside the individual. We are influenced by language even before we become fully aware of it. The Symbolic Register lies within this symbolic domain rather than the imaginary; it’s the realm where signifiers operate, forming a "chain" that influences how we behave. Instead of being a seamless structure, Lacan saw the unconscious as a bricolage—an assemblage of fragmented memory traces, visual and auditory impressions, and "part-objects." Later on, Lacan went further, linking the unconscious to jouissance—an embodied experience of pleasure or pain—and introduced the concept of "the Real". He often describes this as the "real" unconscious, separate from a purely linguistic model.

The concept of child sexuality also played a role in shaping Born on the Spring Equinox. Freud first introduced this idea in his 1905 book, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. He suggested that children are born with a natural sexual drive—what he called "polymorphous perverse"—which develops through five distinct psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital, each centred around different erogenous zones.

Key Aspects of the Theory:

Psychosexual Development: Freud proposed that our libido develops through a series of stages beginning in infancy, shaping who we become.

Infantile Sexuality: Challenging Victorian beliefs, he argued that children are not asexual; instead, they find pleasure in various parts of their bodies even before puberty.

Major Stages: These include the oral stage (mouth), anal stage (toilet training), phallic stage (genitals and Oedipus complex), latency period (a time of dormancy), and the genital stage (mature sexuality).

Conflict and Personality: Freud believed that unresolved conflicts or fixations during these early stages could manifest as neuroses in adulthood.

Lacanian theory treats child sexuality not as a biological instinct but as a fundamental entry point into language and desire, highlighting the child's attempt to become the "phallus"—the object of the mother's desire.

Through the mirror stage and Oedipus complex, the child transitions from an imaginary sense of unity with the mother to experiencing symbolic castration via the "Name-of-the-Father," thereby shaping their desire through symbolic and social constructs rather than anatomical features.

The key aspects of Lacan’s theory of infantile sexuality are as follows: 

The Phallus as Signifier: The child aspires to embody the phallus — the object that fulfils the mother's desire. Infantile sexuality is primarily characterised by this attempt to fill the "lack" within the Other (the mother or parent).

The Mirror Stage and Identification: The child recognises with an image of wholeness (the ego), which is fundamentally a misconception (méconnaissance) because the child is inherently fragmented.

The Oedipus Complex and Symbolic Castration: The father (the Paternal Function) intervenes to disrupt the dyadic, incestuous relationship between mother and child, thereby introducing the law of language. This separation entails the child relinquishing the aspiration to be the phallus and accepting that desire is directed toward the Symbolic order, rather than the mother's body.

Castration for Both Sexes: Contrary to Freud’s literal interpretation, Lacanian castration involves a fundamental loss experienced by both boys and girls — the surrender of part of their jouissance (enjoyment) in order to integrate into the social world.

The Child's Symptom: The child’s symptomatic behaviours often arise as responses to the mother's unconscious fantasies or the family's structural, Symbolic dysfunction.

Child sexuality, according to Lacan, is thus not focused on sexual acts but on how a child navigates their position within the symbolic realm of language and law.