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Cyrus Saint Amand Poliakoff  | Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.

A psychoanalyst’s first lesson on words: the signifier enters the signified. To illustrate this point Lacan replaced Saussure’s tree with his own example, two bathroom doors with signs affixed, Ladies—Gentlemen. The little diagram that offered psychoanalysis a new way to think about signifiers evoked a childhood memory: “A train arrives at a station. A little boy and a little girl, brother and sister, are seated across from each other in a compartment next to the outside window that provides a view of the station platform buildings going by as the train comes to a stop. ‘Look,’ says the brother, ‘we’re at Ladies!’ ‘Imbecile!’ replies the sister, ‘Don’t you see we’re at Gentlemen.’”... [Read full article]