Lacan’s emphasis on James Joyce over Marcel Proust in his seminars reflects differences in the psychoanalytic relevance of their works to Lacan’s theories, particularly his ideas about language, the subject, and the unconscious. Here’s an analysis of why Lacan focused on Joyce and only rarely mentioned Proust:
1. Joyce and the Real, the Symptom, and Language
• The Real and the Sinthome:
• Lacan’s fascination with Joyce revolves around how Joyce’s writing operates at the level of the Real, bypassing the Symbolic and the Imaginary in unique ways. Joyce’s use of language—fragmented, non-linear, and opaque—challenges the standard functioning of the Symbolic order.
• Lacan famously coined the term “sinthome” (a variation of “symptom”) to describe Joyce’s relationship with his writing. The sinthome in Joyce’s case serves as a unique form of subjective stabilization, holding together his fragmented psyche without reliance on the conventional Symbolic.
• For Lacan, Joyce becomes an exceptional case study in how writing can substitute for the father’s Name-of-the-Father (a central concept in Lacanian psychoanalysis), creating a singular mode of subjectivation.
• Language as a Material Force:
• Joyce’s experimentation with language in Finnegans Wake and Ulysses aligns with Lacan’s view of language as autonomous and performative, having effects beyond conscious control. Joyce’s writing demonstrates the materiality and jouissance of language, a core interest for Lacan.
2. Proust and the Imaginary
• Proust’s Focus on Memory and the Imaginary:
• In contrast, Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is deeply rooted in themes of memory, subjectivity, and the Imaginary. While these are undoubtedly rich psychoanalytic themes, they align less with the aspects of Lacan’s later work, which shifted toward the Real, jouissance, and the sinthome.
• Proust’s exploration of memory through the involuntary recall of sensory impressions (e.g., the famous madeleine scene) operates within the Symbolic and Imaginary realms. These themes are important but do not provide the kind of radical linguistic and structural disruption that Joyce offers.
• Focus on the Subject:
• Proust’s writing remains focused on the development and understanding of the subject through introspection and narrative. For Lacan, however, the subject of the unconscious is decentered and constituted by language, not introspection. Proust’s approach might thus seem too anchored in a pre-Lacanian notion of selfhood.
3. Joyce as a Psychoanalytic Challenge
• Lacan admired Joyce because his writing seemed to resist psychoanalytic interpretation, posing a challenge to psychoanalysis itself. While Proust’s introspective narratives could be more readily analyzed using traditional psychoanalytic concepts (e.g., repression, memory, desire), Joyce’s works break these frameworks, requiring new concepts like the sinthome.
• For example, Joyce’s fragmented, polyphonic style resists narrative closure and coherence, destabilizing the Symbolic order in ways that fascinated Lacan.
4. Cultural and Historical Context
• Lacan was writing and teaching in a time when modernism was seen as a break with traditional forms of narrative and subjectivity. Joyce epitomized this break, pushing the boundaries of language, form, and meaning.
• Proust, though also modernist, was seen as more aligned with classical narrative traditions, with his work often interpreted through a lens of continuity with 19th-century literature (e.g., Flaubert).
5. Psychoanalytic Usefulness
• Joyce: His work engages Lacan’s later ideas about language as lalangue (language as material and affective, beyond meaning), the Real, and the sinthome. Joyce demonstrates how a singular relationship to language can shape subjectivity in non-normative ways.
• Proust: While rich in themes of desire, memory, and time, Proust’s work may not offer the same degree of innovation in terms of language’s structure and its relation to the unconscious.
In Summary
Lacan prioritized Joyce because his work intersected with Lacan’s later theoretical concerns, especially the Real, the sinthome, and the materiality of language. Joyce’s radical reworking of language challenged psychoanalytic norms and required Lacan to innovate conceptually, while Proust’s more introspective and narrative-driven exploration of memory and desire was closer to traditional psychoanalytic themes and therefore less provocative to Lacan’s project.
