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The concept of the "[[fragmented body]]" is developed by [[Jacques Lacan]] in the context of the [[mirror stage]]. ==Critical Dictionary== In his early paper on the [[mirror stage]] (1949), [[Lacan]] refers to the ''[[imago]]'' of the [[fragmented body]] as an [[image]] of [[castration]] which expresses the [[subject]]'s [[feeling]] that the [[body]] [[lack]]s any substantial [[unity]]. The resultant [[anxiety]] stimulates the [[subject]]'s [[identification]] with the complete [[image]] in the [[mirror]], but the [[fragmented body]] always poses a [[threat]] to its [[unity]]. According to [[Lacan]], the ''[[imago]]'' of the [[fragmented body]] reappears when the [[analysis]] touches upon or provokes the [[aggressivity]] of the [[analysand]]. ==Mirror Stage and Ego Formation==In the [[mirror stage]] the [[infant]] sees its [[reflection]] in the [[mirror]] as a [[whole]]/[[synthesis]], and this [[perception]] causes, by contrast, the [[perception]] of its own [[body]] (which [[lack]]s [[motor coordination]] at this [[stage]]) as [[division|divided]] and [[fragmentation|fragmented]].

The However, the anticipation of a synthetic [[ego]] is henceforth constantly threatened by the [[memory]] of this sense of [[fragmentation]], which manifests itself in "images of castration, emasculation, mutilation, dismemberment, dislocation, evisceration, devouring, bursting open of the body" which haunt the human imagination.<ref>{{E}} p.11</ref>

==Transference==These [[image]]s typically appear in the [[analysand]]'s [[dream]]s and associations [[free association|association]]s at a particular phase in the [[treatment]] - namely, the moment when the [[analysand]]'s [[aggressivity]] emerges in the negative [[transference]].

This moment is an important early [[sign]] that the [[treatment]] is progressing in the right direction, i.e. towards the disintegration of the rigid [[unity]] of the [[ego]].<ref>{{L}} (1951b) "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Some reflections Reflections on the egoEgo]]", ''Int. J. Psycho-Anal.'', vol. 34, 1953[1951b]: 13</ref>

When a [[hysteria|hysterical]] [[paralysis]] affects a limb, it does not respect the physiological [[structure]] of the nervous system, but instead reflects the way the [[body]] is divided up by an '"imaginary anatomy'.  In this way, the [[fragmented body]] is "revealed at the organic level, in the lines of fragilization that define the anatomy of phantasy, as exhibited in the schizoid and spasmodic symptoms of hysteria."<ref>{{E}} p.5</ref>

==Surrealism==The [[image]] of In this way, the [[fragmented body]] does not derive from [[Freud]].[[Lacan]] himself compares it to is "revealed at the organic level, in the [[hallucination|hallucinatory]] [[image|imagery]] lines of Hieronymus Bosch. It has been suggested fragilization that [[Lacan]]'s ''[[imago]]'' is influenced by Hans Bellmer's [[photograph|photographs]] define the anatomy of a dismembered phantasy, as exhibited in the schizoid and rearranged dollspasmodic symptoms of hysteria."<ref>Bowie, Malcolm. ''Lacan''. London: Fontana, 1991{{E}} p.5</ref> They are inspired by the [[artist]]'s [[sexual]] [[obsession]] with a young girl and appeared in a [[surrealist]] journal to which [[Lacan]] contributed. This suggestion is therefore highly plausible, and provides a reminder of [[Lacan]]'s debt to [[surrealism]].