Lack

The equation of desire to lack is linked indissolubly to Jacques Lacan, dubbed the ‘French Freud’ from his professed desire to recover the true Freud from the clutches of ego psychology — and ironically, considering the extent to which, in rewriting Freud, he informed his own fantasy. While it is frowned upon to reflect on the person, Lacan is irresistible. His life course to a large extent replays his scholarly preoccupations, particularly with ‘The Purloined Letter’,1 where he analyses Poe’s story of a trail of badly concealed secrets and fractured social relations. This smart alec Parisian intellectual sprang from a long line of drapers, vinegar merchants and grocery salesmen, all of whom he disavowed. Obsessed by image in his writings, he effected the grandiose style and sartorial elegance of an aristocratic dandy. Outraging his peers by mass-producing therapeutic clones of himself, he amassed considerable wealth, much of which was devoted to a passion for collecting art and fine objects. A notorious tightwad, he would always allow someone else to pick up the tab. Yet, despite all of this, he was celebrated as an icon of the Left. He had a child by a parallel relationship to his marriage which he hid from his legitimate children for many years.