To Be and Not to Be: Hamlet’s Identity. Lacan’s Errors and His Disappointing Interpretation of Shakespeare

Hamlet’s desire must be examined in relation to the desire to be, that is the desire for identity: this is the claim upheld in this study. Consequently, the article begins by making a distinction between the desire to be and the desire to have: this distinction was expressed in a new way by Freud, but was never adequately developed either by Freud himself or by Lacan. Therefore, the desire to be has remained prisoner of the Oedipus complex, even in Lacan’s reformulation in which it basically proves to be the desire to be the Phallus.Yet the desire to be must be understood starting from the “modal revolution” introduced by Heidegger, and this allows us to appreciate the more innovative thesis in Freud’s essay, “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego” (1921). Identity is a relationship that may be considered to be a coincidence or a non-coincidence with oneself: in the latter case, we will refer to an “overcoming identity.” As a result, philosophy, the theory of the subject and the theory of literature are called upon to investigate the modes of identity.From the perspective of the modes of being, Hamlet is analyzed here starting from his refusal to subordinate his own identity to the role of avenger. His desire oversteps the borders of neurosis and melancholy, in which it had traditionally been imprisoned (also by Lacan). Hamlet is a hero of non-coincidence: he goes beyond the models that appear to him to be inadequate and attempts to construct a flexible identity. Adopting the mask of madness, he has the opportunity to display his linguistic creativity. This does not deny that Hamlet is a tormented hero: the shadow of his father and the lust of his mother are obstacles to the desire for identity.This interpretation is only delineated in the last pages of the article. It is first necessary to show that the limitations of Lacan’s interpretation derive from a narrow conception of the Symbolic and the desire to be for which Lacan never acknowledges creative possibilities. The Lacanian notion of “lack” is a logical and epistemological obstacle that prevents the development of the logic of flexibility and the nonof “non-coincidence.

The Turn of the Screw. A tale that “turns”

This article offers a new interpretation of The Turn of the Screw. The reader is not asked to choose between ghosts and hallucinations, but rather to understand that James’ intention was to include a ghost story in a story of hallucinations. These two stories intertwine and transform into one another.  Nonetheless, the mental dimension remains prevalent: The Turn of the Screw is a tale of identity or rather of the dissolution of the principium individuationis and the consequent establishment of a “confusive regime”. The rise in personal pronouns is the detail that points to and confirms this interpretation.This article offers a new interpretation of The Turn of the Screw. The reader is not asked to choose between ghosts and hallucinations, but rather to understand that James’ intention was to include a ghost story in a story of hallucinations. These two stories intertwine and transform into one another.  Nonetheless, the mental dimension remains prevalent: The Turn of the Screw is a tale of identity or rather of the dissolution of the principium individuationis and the consequent establishment of a “confusive regime”. The rise in personal pronouns is the detail that points to and confirms this interpretation

Frankenstein Rather Than Faust? The Decline of Limit-Surpassing Forces

Giovanni Bottiroli’s article “Frankenstein Rather Than Faust?” aims to problematize and investigate further the challenge to the notion of «rigid identity» proposed by extant scholarship. In order to do so, Bottiroli dismantles a univocal understanding of «identity», bringing to light the polysemy and porosity intrinsic to this term. In order to do so, the author discusses here different modes of identity, concentrating on two in particular: coincidence and non-coincidence with oneself. Taking this distinction as his point of departure, Bottiroli applies these interpretative frameworks to two of the most significant figures of Western imagination, Frankenstein and Faust

Il desiderio "effrayant" di Julien Sorel

Che cosa significa leggere un classico? Quest’articolo distingue due modi, o due vie. Per i contestualisti è sufficiente collocare l’opera nella sua epoca storica, e sottolineare eventualmente la novità che quell’opera ha introdotto. Per la teoria dell’interpretazione, un classico vive nel «tempo grande» (Bachtin), cioè oltrepassa i confini della sua epoca. In questo senso, i grandi scrittori sarebbero ‘universali’. Per l’autore di quest’articolo sarebbe più corretto riconoscere la densità semantica dell’opera d’arte, cioè l’insieme delle sue virtualità. Ma per riconoscere e indagare le virtualità di un classico occorre far riferimento alla teoria, o meglio alle teorie. Nel caso di Le Rouge et le Noir, ci si può limitare ad analisi parziali, che, nella loro consapevole limitatezza, sono legittime. Tut-tavia, chiunque pretenda di offrire un punto di vista complessivo su questo romanzo di Stendhal non può (o meglio non dovrebbe) ignorare, per esempio, le teorie del desi-derio. Le Rouge et le Noir rappresenta un momento fondamentale per la nascita del realismo moderno («serio», come lo ha chiamato Auerbach): ma si può ridurre la rappresentazione della realtà, che esso offre, quasi unicamente al contesto storico-sociale? La verità (l’âpre vérité) che Stendhal promette ai suoi lettori nell’esergo del romanzo è la verità di quegli esseri flessibili che noi siamo: è la verità delle diverse possibilità, o versioni, dell’amore. Non si può leggere un classico senza incontrare il desiderio di essere. What does ‘reading the classics’ mean? This paper identifies a twofold approach to this act. Contextualist critics believe that setting the text within its historical context and shedding light on its innovative aspects suffice to understand it. According to the theory of interpretation, classics embody Bachtin’s «great time», exceeding the limits of their epoch. Great writers would be therefore universal figure. For the author of this paper, a correct approach to literary works acknowledges the density of texts, that is to say the combination of virtual components. In order to investigate classics’ ‘virtuality’, one has to refer to theory, or rather theories. Dealing with Le Rouge et le Noir, critics can provide partial analyses that, in being consciously limited, are certainly legit. However, whoever might want to offer a complete view of Pascal’s novel cannot – or rather should not – ignore, for instance, theories of desire. Le Rouge et le Noir stands out as a fundamental step towards the birth of modern realism («serious», as Auerbach named it). Nonetheless, is it possible to reduce the portrayal of reality it offers to, almost exclusively, its socio-historical context? The truth (l’âpre vérité) Stendhal promises to his readers in the novel’s exergue is the truth about us as flexible beings. In other words, it is the truth about the several possibilities, or potentialities, intrinsic to love. One cannot read classics without discovering the desire to be

Perché bisogna riscrivere Lacan. A partire dalla letteratura (cioè dalla flessibilità)

L’articolo propone una riflessione sul pensiero di Lacan che porta ad un suo radicale ripensamento. Tesi centrale è la necessità di reinventare il Simbolico, ispirandosi alla letteratura ed in particolare a ciò che la letteratura mostra relativamente alle virtualità del linguaggio e della condizione umana. La flessibilità costituisce il concetto chiave di questa elaborazione. Soltanto a partire da una concezione non semplicistica del Simbolico, sostiene l’autore, si potrà comprendere la teoria dei registri intesa come teoria di un soggetto flessibile. This paper proposes a deep reflection on Lacan’s thought, leading to its radical reassessment. Its central argument is the necessity to reinvent the notion of Symbolic through the tool of literature. Flexibility in particular is the key concept to proceed towards the rethinking of the Symbolic realm hereby proposed. The author argues in fact that only a non-simplified understanding of the Symbolic allows to understand Lacan’s theory of the three registers as the theory of a flexible subject

La situazione degli studi letterari nelle Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia. Proposte per un rinnovamento

http://www.giovannibottiroli.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=1

“La morte a Venezia” di Thomas Mann: un viaggio verso il legame tra gli opposti

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Hybridising as an Artists' Problem. Some Theses

The article proposes a theoretical reflection on the notion of «hybridization» and a critique of its ideological use. The concept of «hybrid» is treated as a starting point rather than as a result. The possibility of defining a classification is questioned on the basis of some fundamental reflections by Nietzsche, who, in Beyond Good and Evil, distinguishes between fertile hybridizations, where the different elements are strenghtened by their mixing and the various forces are combined, and bad or sterile hybridizations, where the various forces, rather than reciprocally stimulate themselves, hinder and paralyze each other. The author believes that this distinction can play a crucial role both in the arts and in politics.L’articolo presenta una riflessione di carattere teorico sulla nozione di «ibridazione», e una critica dell’uso ideologico. Il concetto di «ibrido» viene considerato come un punto di partenza, e non come un punto di arrivo. Ci si interroga sulla possibilità di una tipologia, e questo avviene a partire da alcune fondamentali riflessioni di Nietzsche, che, in Al di là del bene e del male, introduce questa distinzione: ci sono ibridazioni feconde, in cui la mescolanza rafforza gli elementi e le forze che si intrecciano, ma ci sono anche cattive ibridazioni, ibridazioni sterili, nel cui ambito le forze, anziché stimolarsi reciprocamente, si ostacolano e si paralizzano. L’autore ritiene che questa distinzione possa svolgere un ruolo decisivo sia in campo artistico sia in campo politico

Liberatore e incatenato: le aporie di Dioniso (e del dionisiaco) da Euripide a Nietzsche

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Michel de Montaigne. Per una lettura degli Essais

Si riflette sullo stile di pensiero degli Essais, in cui, come afferma lo stesso Montaigne «vi è gran libertà di parlare in ogni senso, e pro e contro». Si rileva la capacità del pensatore di conferire un nuovo significato a termini tradizionali, recuperati in accezioni inedite. Emerge per esempio una nozione di forma che sa includere il molteplice senza irrigidirlo nell‟Uno. Ciò che Montaigne ri-fiuta è la concezione tradizionale di forma come essenza rigida, come insieme di tratti o di proprietà; l‟identità del soggetto umano – l‟ humaine condition – è invece una condizione flessibile, cioè aperta a destini divergenti. Il pensiero di Montaigne si può interpretare dunque come un pensiero della flessibilità.In this article we reflect on the style the thought of Montaigne’s Essais. In particular we underline the ability of the thinker to attach a new meaning to traditional terms, recovered in unprecedented acceptations. For example, we can find a notion of form that can include multiplicity without force it into the “One”. Montaigne refuses the traditional conception of the form as a rigid essence, as a whole of traits and properties; the “identity of the human subject” – the “humaine condition” – is rather a flexible condition, i.e. open to divergent fates. Montaigne’s thought can therefore be interpreted as a thought of flexibility.