The Real and the Cut

Abstract

Abstract: Lacan entered the psychoanalytical scene by inventing three powerful signifiers with which he divided the field into the registers of the symbolic, imaginary and real. The cut as an analytical tool has been present since the beginning of Lacan’s practice, and is often conflated with the variable-length session. Although there can be a relation between the cut and the length of a session, the two are not the same thing. The cut has to do with the real of psychoanalysis, and as such has to do with the opacity of jouissance, distinct from the law of desire. The analytical cut can also be distinguished from interpretation, which is placed on the side of meaning. An analytical cut can be achieved through a variety of tactics, so long as these tactics are governed by the particularity of the transference under the analytic policy invented by Freud – to work with the subject of the unconscious.