Agency
| French: instance, Instanz |
Translator's Note
Lacan's use of the term "instance" goes well beyond Freud's "Instanz".
It represents, one might say, an exploitation of the linguistic possibilities of the French equivalent of Freud's German term.
In the absence of any exact equivalent of Lacan's French term, one is thrown back to the term used by Freud's English translators, "agency".
In Freud, the reference is most often to the three "agencies" of the id, ego and superego.
In Lacan, one must bear in mind the idea of an "acting upon", even "insistence," as in the title of the essay, "L'instance de la letter".[1]
See Also
References
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. "L'instance de la lettre dans l'inconscient ou la raison depuis Freud." Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966: 493-528 ["The agency of the letter in the unconscious or reason since Freud." Trans. Alan Sheridan Écrits: A Selection. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1977: 146-78].
