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=====Jacques Lacan==========Ferdinand de Saussure=====[[Lacan]]'s frequent references to the "[[letter]]" must be seen within the context of [[Saussure]]'s [[discussion ]] of [[language]]. In his ''[[Saussure|Course in General Linguistics]]'', [[Saussure]] privileges [[speech|spoken]] [[language]] above [[writing|written]] [[language]], on the grounds that the former appears before the latter both in the [[time|history]] of [[human|humanity]] and in the [[life]] of the [[individual]]. [[Writing]] is conceived of as a mere secondhand [[representation]] of [[speech|spoken]] [[language]], and the [[signifier]] is conceived of as purely an acoustic [[image]] and not as a graphic one.<ref>[[Saussure|Saussure, Ferdinand de]]. ''[[Saussure|Course in General Linguistics]]'', 1916. Ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana.</ref>

=====Spoken and Written Language==Materiality===In his ''When [[Saussure|Course in General LinguisticsLacan]]'', takes up [[Saussure]] privileges 's [[speech|spokenwork]] in the 1950s, he adapts it freely to his own purposes. He thus conceives of the [[languageletter]] above , not as a mere graphic representation of a sound, but as the [[writingmaterialism|writtenmaterial basis]] of [[language]], on the grounds itself.<blockquote>"By ''letter'' I designate that the former appears before the latter both in the [[time|historymaterial]] of support that [[human|humanityconcrete]] and in the life of the individualdiscourse borrows from language."<ref>{{E}} p.147</ref></blockquote>

The [[Writingletter]] is conceived of as thus connected with the [[real]], a mere secondhand representation [[materialism|material substrate]] that underpins the [[symbolic order]]. The [[concept]] of [[speechmaterialism|spokenmateriality]] implies, for [[languageLacan]], both the indivisibility and the [[signifieridea]] is conceived of as purely an acoustic image and not as a graphic one.<ref>locality; the [[Saussure|Saussure, Ferdinand deletter]]. ''is therefore "the essentially localized [[Saussure|Course in General Linguisticsstructure]]'', 1916of the signifier. Ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana"<ref>{{E}} p.153</ref>

=====Jacques Lacan==Meaning========Material Basis As an element of Language=====When the [[real]], the [[letter]] is [[meaning]]less in itself. [[Lacan]] takes up 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 [[Saussuresystem]]'s work in .<ref>{{S1}} p. 244-5; {{E}} p. 160</ref> In the 1950ssame way, the [[signifier]] persists as a [[meaning]]less [[letter]] which makes the destiny of the [[subject]] and which he adapts it freely to his own purposesmust decipher.

He thus conceives 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}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|From the History of an Infantile Neurosis]]," 1918b [1914]. [[SE]] XVII, not as a mere graphic representation 3.</ref> As the example of a soundthe [[Wolf Man]] demonstrates, but as the [[materialismletter]] is essentially that which [[return]]s and [[repetition|material basisrepeats]] of itself; it constantly insists in inscribing itself in the [[languagesubject]] itself's life.

===Repetition===[[Lacan]] illustrates this [[repetition]] by reference to [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s story ''[[The Purloined Letter]]''.<blockquoteref>Poe, Edgar Allan. 1844. "The [[Purloined Letter]],"By 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. "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Le 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' I designate ', 48 (1972): 38-72.</ref> It is in this paper that material support [[Lacan]] proposes that concrete discourse borrows from language"a letter always arrives at its destination."<ref>{{EEc}} p. 14741</ref></blockquote>

=====Materiality==To the Letter===The It is because of the [[role]] of the [[letter]] is thus connected with in the [[unconscious]] that the [[analyst]] must focus not on the [[meaning]] or the [[signification]] of the [[realanalysand]]'s [[discourse]], a but purely on its [[formal]] properties; the [[materialism|material substrateanalyst]] that underpins must read the [[symbolic orderanalysand]]'s [[speech]] as if it were a [[text]], "taking it literally" (''prendre à la lettre'').

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}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|From the History of an Infantile Neurosis]]," 1918b [1914]. [[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. "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Le 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> =====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>