Booz endormi
From No Subject
[edit] Paternity and Metaphor
When, in 1956, Lacan first begins to discuss the tropes of metaphor and metonymy in detail, the example he takes to illustrate the structure of metaphor is a line from Victor Hugo's poem, Booz endormi.[1]
This poem retells the biblical story of Ruth and Boaz; while Ruth sleeps at his feet, Boaz dreams that a tree grows out of his stomach, a revelation that he is to be the founder of a race.
In the line which Lacan quotes - "His sheaf was neither miserly nor spiteful" - the metaphoric substitution of "sheaf" for "Boaz" produces a poetic effect of signification.[2]
Paternity is thus both the theme of the poem (its content) and also inherent in the structure of metaphor itself.
All paternity involves metaphoric substitution, and vice versa.
