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* [[art|poetry]] (e.g. the discussion of Booz endormi by Victor Hugo<ref>{{S3}} p. 218-25; {{S4}} p. 377-8; {{E}} p. 156-8; {{S8}} p. 158-9</ref>).
=====Visual Arts=====However, [[Lacan]] also discusses the [[art|visual arts]], devoting several lectures in his [[Seminar XI|1964]] [[seminar]] to discussing [[art|painting]], particularly [[art|anamorphotic art]].<ref>{{S11}} Chs. 7-9, where he discusses [[Holbein]]'s [[The Ambassadors]]; {{S7}} p. 139-42</ref>).
====Differences between - Freud and Lacan====
There are, nevertheless, significant differences between the ways in which [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]] approach [[work|works of art]].
=====Psychology of the Artist=====Though [[Lacan ]] does speak about [[sublimation]], unlike [[Freud]] he does not believe that it is possible or even desirable for [[psychoanalyst]]s to say anything about the [[psychology]] of the [[art|artist]] on the basis of an examination of a [[art|work of art]].<ref>See his critical remarks on "[[art|psychobiography]]"; {{Ec}} 740-1</ref>
Just because the most fundamental [[complex]] ([[Oedipus complex|Oedipus]]) in [[psychoanalytic theory]] is taken from a [[art|literary work]], [[Lacan]] says, does not mean that [[psychoanalysis]] has anything to say about [[Sophocles]].<ref>{{L}} "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Lituraterre]]," ''Littérature'', no. 3, 1971. p. 3</ref>
==More===Authorial Intentions=====
[[Lacan]]'s exclusion of the [[art|artist]] from his discussions of [[art|works of art]] means that his [[interpretation|reading]]s of [[art|literary texts]] are not concerned to reconstruct the [[author]]'s [[intention]]s.
=====Discourse of the Analysand=====
In his suspension of the question of [[author]]ial [[consciousness|intent]], [[Lacan]] is not merely aligning himself with the [[structuralism|structuralist movement]] (after all, [[author]]ial [[consciousness|intent]] had been bracketed by [[art|New Criticism]] long before the [[structuralism|structuralists]] appeared on the [[scene]]), but is rather illustrating the way in which the [[analyst]] should proceed when [[free association|listening]] to and [[interpretation|interpreting]] the [[discourse]] of the [[analysand]].
<blockquote>You must start from the text, start by treating it, as Freud does and as he recommends, as Holy Writ. The author, the scribe, is only a pen-pusher, and he comes second. . . . Similarly, when it comes to our patients, please give more attention to the text than to the psychology of the author - the entire orientation of my teaching is that.<ref>{{S2}} p. 153</ref></blockquote>
==More===Method of Reading=====
[[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[art|literary texts]] are thus not exercises in [[art|literary criticism]] for its own sake, but performances designed to give his audience an idea of how they are to read the [[unconscious]] of their [[patient]]s.
This [[interpretation|method of reading ]] is similar to those employed by [[structuralism|formalism]] and [[structuralism]]; the [[signified]] is neglected in favour of the [[signifier]], [[structure|content ]] is bracketed in favour of [[structure|formal structures]].<ref>Although [[Jacques Derrida]] has argued that [[Lacan]] does not in fact follow his own method; [[Jacques Derrida|Derrida, Jacques]] 1975. "Le facteur de la vérité," in ''The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond'', trans. Alan Bass, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 413-96.</ref> and by two of Derrida's followers.<ref>Lacoue-Labarthe, Philippe, and Nancy, Jean-Luc. 1973. ''Le Titre de la lettre'', Paris: Galilée.</ref>
==ExamplesIllustrative Models==
Besides serving as models of a [[interpretation|method of reading]], which [[Lacan]] recommends [[analyst]]s to follow when [[interpretation|reading]] the [[discourse]] of their [[patient]]s, [[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[art|literary texts]] also aim to extract certain elements which serve as [[metaphor]]s to illustrate some of his most important ideas.
For example, in his reading of [[Poe]]'s ''[[The Purloined Letter]]'', [[Lacan]] points to the circulating [[letter]] as a [[metaphor]] for the [[signifier|determinative power]] of the [[signifier]].
====="Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism"=====
A new branch of so-called "[[art|psychoanalytic literary criticism]]" now claims to be inspired by [[Lacan]]'s approach to [[art|literary texts]].
However, while such projects are interesting in their own right, they do not usually approach [[art|literature ]] in the same way as [[Lacan]].
=====Analytic Interpretation=====
That is, while [[art|psychoanalytic literary criticism]] aims to say something about the texts studied, both aspects of [[Lacan]]'s approach (to illustrate a mode of [[interpretation|analytic interpretation]], and to illustrate [[psychoanalytic]] [[:category:concepts|concepts]]) are concerned not with saying something about the texts themselves, but merely with using the texts to say something about [[psychoanalysis]].
This is perhaps the most important difference between [[Lacan]]'s approach to works of art and [[Freud]]'s.
=====Metalanguage=====
Whereas some of [[Freud]]'s works are often taken to imply that [[psychoanalysis]] is a [[metalanguage|metadiscourse]], a [[metalanguage|master narrative]] providing a general lutmeneutic key that can unlock the hitherto unsolved secrets of [[art|literary works]], it is impossible to read [[Lacan]] as making any such claims.
=====Methods and Concepts=====<b>For [[Lacan]], while [[psychoanalysis ]] might be able to learn something about [[art|literature]], or use [[art|literary works]] to illustrate certain of its [[treatment|methods]] and [[:category:concepts|concepts]], it is doubtful whether [[art|literary criticism]] can learn anything from [[psychoanalysis]]. </b>
====="Applied Psychoanalysis"
Hence [[Lacan]] rejects the idea that a [[art|literary criticism]] which makes use of [[psychoanalytic]] [[:category:concepts|concepts]] could be called "[[art|applied psychoanalysis]]", since "[p]sychoanalysis is only applied, in the proper sense of the term, as a treatment, and thus to a subject who speaks and listens."<ref>{{Ec}} p. 747</ref>).
