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=====Jacques Lacan==========Ferdinand de Saussure==Materiality===When [[Lacan]] takes up [[Saussure]]'s frequent references [[work]] in the 1950s, he adapts it freely to his own purposes. He thus conceives of the "[[letter]]" must be seen within , not as a mere graphic representation of a sound, but as the context [[materialism|material basis]] of [[Saussurelanguage]]itself.<blockquote>"By 's discussion of 'letter'' I designate that [[material]] support that [[languageconcrete]]discourse borrows from language."<ref>{{E}} p.147</ref></blockquote>

=====Spoken and Written Language=====In his ''The [[letter]] is thus connected with the [[Saussure|Course in General Linguisticsreal]]'', a [[Saussurematerialism|material substrate]] privileges that underpins the [[speech|spokensymbolic order]] . The [[languageconcept]] above of [[writingmaterialism|writtenmateriality]] implies, for [[languageLacan]], on both the grounds that the former appears before the latter both in indivisibility and the [[time|historyidea]] of locality; the [[human|humanityletter]] and in is therefore "the life essentially localized [[structure]] of the individualsignifier."<ref>{{E}} p.153</ref>

===Meaning===As an element of the [[real]], the [[Writingletter]] is conceived of as a mere secondhand representation of [[speech|spokenmeaning]]less in itself. [[Lacan]] illustrates this by referring to ancient [[languageEgyptian hieroglyphics]], and the which were indecipherable to Europeans for so long. Until Champollion was able to decipher [[signifierthem]] is conceived on the basis of as purely an acoustic image and not as a graphic the Rosetta Stone, no one.<ref>knew how to [[Saussure|Saussure, Ferdinand deunderstand]]. (1916) ''these enigmatic inscriptions, but it was nevertheless clear that they were organized into a signifying [[Saussure|Course in General Linguisticssystem]]'', ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans<ref>{{S1}} p. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana244-5; {{E}} p.160</ref>In the same way, the [[signifier]] persists as a [[meaning]]less [[letter]] which makes the destiny of the [[subject]] and which he must decipher.

=====Jacques Lacan==========Material Basis A [[good]] example of Language=====When this is the [[Lacancase]] takes up of the [[SaussureWolf Man]], in which [[Freud]] noted that the [[meaning]]less [[letter]] V reappeared under many guides in the [[Wolf Man]]'s work in life.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|From the History of an Infantile Neurosis]]," 1918b [1914]. [[SE]] XVII, 3.</ref> As the example of the 1950s[[Wolf Man]] demonstrates, he adapts the [[letter]] is essentially that which [[return]]s and [[repetition|repeats]] itself; it freely to his own purposesconstantly insists in inscribing itself in the [[subject]]'s life.

He thus conceives ===Repetition===[[Lacan]] illustrates this [[repetition]] by reference to [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s story ''[[The Purloined Letter]]''.<ref>Poe, Edgar Allan. 1844. "The [[Purloined Letter]]," in ''Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe'', New York: Pocket [[Library]], 1951.</ref> Playing on the [[double]]-meaning of the term "[[letter]]", not as [[Lacan]] presents [[Poe]]'s account of a mere graphic representation of written document (a sound, but [[letter]]) which passes through various hands as a [[metaphor]] for the [[materialismsignifier]] which circulates between various [[subject]]s, assigning a peculiar [[position]] to whoever is possessed by it.<ref>{{L}} 1955a. "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|material basisLe séminaire sur 'La lettre volée']]", in [[Jacques Lacan]], ''[[Écrits]]'', [[Paris]] : Seuil, 1966, pp. 11-61 ["[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Seminar on 'The Purloined Letter']]", trans. Jeffrey Mehlman, ''Yale [[French]] Studies'', 48 (1972): 38-72.</ref> It is in this paper that [[languageLacan]] itselfproposes that "a letter always arrives at its destination."<ref>{{Ec}} p.41</ref>

<blockquote>===To the Letter===It is because of the [[role]] of the [[letter]] in the [[unconscious]] that the [[analyst]] must focus not on the [[meaning]] or the [[signification]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]], but purely on its [[formal]] properties; the [[analyst]] must read the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]] as if it were a [[text]], "taking it literally"By (''letterprendre à la lettre'' I designate that material support that concrete discourse borrows from language."<ref>{{E}} p).147</ref></blockquote>

=====Materiality=====The [[letter]] is thus connected with the [[real]], a [[materialism|material substrate]] that underpins the [[symbolic order]]. The concept of [[materialism|materiality]] implies, for [[Lacan]], both the indivisibility and the idea of locality; the [[letter]] is therefore "the essentially localized structured of the signifier."<ref>{{E}} p.153</ref> =====Meaningless in itself=====As an element of the [[real]], the [[letter]] is [[meaning]]less in itself. =====Examples==========Egyptian Hieroglyphics=====[[Lacan]] illustrates this by referring to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which were indecipherable to Europeans for so long. Until Champollion was able to decipher them on the basis of the Rosetta Stone, no one knew how to understand these enigmatic inscriptions, but it was nevertheless clear that they were organized into a signifying system.<ref>{{S1}} p.244-5; {{E}} p.160</ref> In the same way, the [[signifier]] persists as a [[meaning]]less [[letter]] which makes the destiny of the [[subject]] and which he must decipher. =====Wolf Man=====A good example of this is the case of the [[Wolf Man]], in which [[Freud]] noted that the [[meaning]]less [[letter]] V reappeared under many guides in the [[Wolf Man]]'s life.<ref>{{F}} 1918b. [1914]. "From the History of an Infantile Neurosis." [[SE]] XVII, 3.</ref> =====Repetition=====As the example of the [[Wolf Man]] demonstrates, the [[letter]] is essentially that which [[return]]s and [[repetition|repeats]] itself; it constantly insists in inscribing itself in the [[subject]]'s life. =====Example==========''The Purloined Letter''=====[[Lacan]] illustrates this [[repetition]] by reference to Edgar Allan Poe's story ''The Purloined Letter''.<ref>Poe, Edgar Allan. 1844. "The Purloined Letter," in ''Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe'', New York: Pocket Library, 1951.</ref> Playing on the double-meaning of the term "[[letter]]", [[Lacan]] presents Poe's account of a written document (a [[letter]]) which passes through various hands as a [[metaphor]] for the [[signifier]] which circulates between various [[subject]]s, assigning a peculiar position to whoever is possessed by it.<ref>{{L}} 1955a. "Le séminaire sur 'La lettre volée'", in [[Jacques Lacan]], ''[[Écrits]]'', Paris: Seuil, 1966, pp. 11-61 ["Seminar on 'The Purloined Letter'", trans. Jeffrey Mehlman, ''Yale French Studies'', 48 (1972): 38-72.</ref> =====A Letter Always Arrives at its Destination=====It is in this paper that [[Lacan]] proposes that "a letter always arrives at its destination."<ref>{{Ec}} p.41</ref> =====Role of the Analyst=====It is because of the role of the [[letter]] in the [[unconscious]] that the [[analyst]] must focus not on the [[meaning]] or the [[signification]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]], but purely on its formal properties; the [[analyst]] must read the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]] as if it were a text, "taking it literally" (''prendre à la lettre''). =====Letter and Writing=====There is thus a close connection between the [[letter]] and [[writing]], a connection which [[Lacan]] explores in his [[seminar]] of 1972-3.<ref>{{S20}} ppp.29-38</ref>  Although both the [[letter]] and [[writing]] are located in the [[order]] of the [[real]], and hence partake of a [[meaning]]less quality, [[Lacan]] argues that the [[letter]] is that which one reads, as opposed to [[writing]], which is not to be read.<ref>{{S20}} p.29</ref> =====Formalization and Mathemes===== [[Writing]] is also connected with the idea of [[formalization]] and the [[matheme]]s; [[Lacan]] thus speaks of his [[algebra]]ic [[symbol]]s as "[[letter]]s."<ref>{{S20}} p.30</ref> =====Jacques Derrida===== [[Lacan]]'s concept of the [[letter]] is the subject of a critique by [[Jacques Derrida]]<ref>[[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>. [[Lacan]] refers to the latter work in his 1972-3 [[seminar]].<ref>{{S20}} p.62-6.</ref>