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The term '[[fragmented body]]' ([[French]]:''[[corps morcelé]]'') is introduced developed by [[Jacques Lacan]] in his discussion 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]], or [[image]]s of [[castration]] and evisceration, which express 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]], and its [[existence]] helps to explain [[hysteria|hysterical]] [[symptom]]s such as [[paralysis]] of the limbs and the '[[phantom limb]]' [[syndrome]] in which an amputee feels [[pain]] in a limb that has been removed.
Its [[existence]] helps to explain [[hysteria|hysterical]] [[symptom]]s such as [[paralysis]] of the limbs and the '[[phantom limb]]' [[syndrome]] in which an amputee feels [[pain]] in a limb that has been removed.
==Mirror Stage and Ego Formation==
In a more general sense, the [[fragmented body]] refers not only to [[image]]s of the physical [[body]] but also to any sense of [[fragmentation]] and disunity:
<blockquote>"He [the subject] is originally an inchoate collection of desires - there you have the true sense of the expression fragmented body."<ref>{{S3, }} p.39</ref></blockquote>
Any such sense of disunity threatens the [[illusion]] of [[synthesis]] which constitutes the [[ego]].
[[Lacan]] also uses the term [[fragmented body]] to explain certain typical [[symptom]]s of [[hysteria]].
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 the [[fragmented body]] does not derive from [[Freud]].
[[Lacan]] himself compares it to the [[hallucination|hallucinatory]] [[image|imagery]] of Hieronymus Bosch; it . It has been suggested that [[Lacan]]'s ''[[imago]] '' is influenced by Hans Bellmer's [[photograph|photographs]] of a dismembered and rearranged doll.<ref>Bowie, Malcolm. ''Lacan''. London: Fontana, 1991.</ref> They are inspired by the [[artist]]'s [[sexual ]] [[obsession ]] with a young girl and appeared in a [[surrealist ]] journal to which [[Lacan ]] contributed.Bowie's This suggestion is therefore highly plausible, and provides a reminder of [[Lacan]]'s debt to [[surrealism]].
==See Also==
* [[mirror Mirror stage]]* [[bodyBody]]* [[lackLack]]* [[fragmentationFragmentation]]* [[anxietyAnxiety]]* [[specular Specular image]]* [[egoEgo]]* [[aggressivityAggressivity]]* [[illusionIllusion]]* [[imaginaryImaginary]]* [[transferenceTransference]]* [[hysteriaHysteria]]
==References==
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
