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{{TopTopp}}[[barre]]{{Bottom}}<BR>

[[Image:Lacan-saussureanalgorithmSAUSSUREANALGORITHM.jpggif|thumb|350px150px|right|thumb|[[Saussurean algorithm|The Saussurean algorithm]]]]The term "[[bar]]" first appears in [[Lacan]]'s [[work ]] in 1957, where it is introduced in the context of a [[discussion ]] of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]]'s [[concept ]] of the [[sign]].<ref>{{E}} p.149</ref>In this context, the [[bar]] is the line that separates the [[signifier]] from the [[signified]] (in the [[Saussurean algorithm]]), and stands for the [[resistance]] inherent in [[signification]] which is only crossed in [[metaphor]].

Not long after the 1957 paper in which the term first appears, in the [[seminar]] of 1957-8, [[Lacan]] goes on to use the [[bar]] to strike through his [[algebraic]] [[symbol]]s '''S''' and '''A''' in a manner reminiscent of [[Heidegger]]'s [[practice ]] of crossing out the [[word ]] "[[being]]."<ref>[[Heidegger|Heidegger, Martin]]. (1956) ''The Question of Being'', trans. William Kluback and Jean T. WIlde, [[London]]: [[Vision]], 1959.</ref> The [[bar]] is used to strike through the '''S''' to produce, [[Image:StrikeS.gif]], the "[[bar|barred subject']]."   The [[bar]] here represents the [[division]] of the [[subject]] by [[language]], the [[split]].   Thus whereas before 1957 '''S''' designates the [[subject]] (e.g. in [[schema L]]), from 1957 on '''S''' designates the [[signifier]] and [[Image:StrikeS.gif]] designates the ([[divided]]) [[subject]].

The [[bar]] is also used to strike through the '''A''' (the [[big Other]]) to produce the [[algebra]]ic notation for the "[[bar|barred Other]]," <strike>'''A'''</strike>.  However, [[Lacan]] continues to use both [[sign]]s in his [[algebra]] (e.g. in the [[graph of desire]]).   The [[bar]]red [[Other]] is the [[Other]] insofar as it is [[castration|castrated]], [[lack|incomplete]], marked by a [[lack]], as opposed to the [[lack|complete]], [[fragmented body|consistent]], [[castration|uncastrated]] [[Other]], an [[un-barred]] '''A''', which does not [[existence|exist]].

In 1973 the [[bar]] is used to strike through the definite article ''la'' whenever it precedes the noun ''[[woman|femme]]'' ("[[woman]]"), as in [[Lacan]]'s famous phrase ''[[woman|la femme n'existe pas]]'' ("[[woman|woman does not exist]]").  The definite article in [[French]] indicates [[universality]], and by crossing it out [[Lacan]] illustrates his [[thesis ]] that [[femininity]] is resistant to all forms of generalisation.<ref>{{S20}} p.68</ref>

In addition to these functions, the [[bar]] can also be [[interpreted ]] as the [[symbolic]] [[phallus]] (which itself is never [[bar]]red), as the [[symbol]] of [[negation]] in the [[formulae of sexuation]] (see [[sexual difference]]), and as the ''[[trait ]] [[unaire]]'' (see [[identification]]).