Refitting fantasy: Psychoanalysis subjectivity, and talking to the dead

Quarterly Journal of Speech

Volumn 90, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 1-23

  Gunn, Joshua ^a  

^a LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Desire; Fantasy; John Edward; Psychoanalysis; Subjectivity

Indexed keywords

EID: 2542562162     PISSN: 00335630     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0033563042000206808     Document Type: Review

References (96)

1. John Edward, Crossing Over: The Stories Behind the Stories (New York: Princess Books, 2001), xix.
2. For an overview of the wide range of commodities offered, see John Edward's website, accessed 4 May 2003; http://www.johnedward.net/
3. Susanne Ault, "Crossing Over with John Edward" Broadcasting and Cable 131 (8 Jan. 2001): 44.
4. Ault, 44.
5. See David Marks and Richard Kammann, The Psychology of the Psychic (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1980); and Richard Wiseman, Deception and Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997).
6. See David Marks and Richard Kammann, The Psychology of the Psychic (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1980); and Richard Wiseman, Deception and Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997).
7. Edward has been the subject of many critiques. See Leon Jaroff, "Talking to the Dead: To Reach Those Who Have 'Crossed Over,' John Edward May Have Crossed One Line Too Many," Time (5 March 2001): 52.
8. For alternate accounts, see John Durham Peters, Speaking Into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); and Jeffrey Sconce, Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000).
9. For alternate accounts, see John Durham Peters, Speaking Into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); and Jeffrey Sconce, Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000).
10. For related work on fantasy, see James P. McDaniel, "Fantasm: The Triumph of Form (An Essay on the Democratic Sublime)," Quarterly Journal of Speech 86 (2000): 48-66; and James P. McDaniel, "Figures for New Frontiers, From Davy Crockett to Cyberspace Gurus," Quarterly Journal of Speech 88 (2002): 91-111.
11. For related work on fantasy, see James P. McDaniel, "Fantasm: The Triumph of Form (An Essay on the Democratic Sublime)," Quarterly Journal of Speech 86 (2000): 48-66; and James P. McDaniel, "Figures for New Frontiers, From Davy Crockett to Cyberspace Gurus," Quarterly Journal of Speech 88 (2002): 91-111.
12. The terms "Self and "Other" are capitalized throughout this essay in order to emphasize their status in the symbolic. For further discussion, see Lacan's seminar on the difference between the little other (a subject "like me") and the Big Other (radical alterity, ultimately the symbolic itself). Jacques Lacan, "Introduction of the Big Other," in The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book Two: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, trans. Jacques-Alain Miller (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), 235-247.
13. Peters, 268.
14. Lawrence Grossberg, We Gotta Get Out of this Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture (New York: Routledge, 1992), 38-39.
15. For a clear, secondary gloss, see Steven Best and Douglas Kellner, Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations (New York: Guilford Press, 1991), esp. 16-25.
16. See Barbara Biesecker, "Rethinking the Rhetorical Situation from within the Thematic of Differance," Philosophy and Rhetoric 22 (1989): 110-130.
17. Michael Calvin McGee, "Text, Context, and the Fragmentation of Contemporary Culture," Western Journal of Communication 54 (1990): 274-289.
18. See Raymie E. McKerrow, "Critical Rhetoric: Theory and Praxis," Communication Monographs 56 (1989): 91-111; and Ronald Walter Greene, "Another Materialist Rhetoric," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 15 (1998): 21-41.
19. See Raymie E. McKerrow, "Critical Rhetoric: Theory and Praxis," Communication Monographs 56 (1989): 91-111; and Ronald Walter Greene, "Another Materialist Rhetoric," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 15 (1998): 21-41.
20. Peters, 265.
21. See Ronald Walter Greene, "Global Citizenship: Three Challenges to the Idea of Rhetorical Mediation," in Rhetorical Democracy: Discursive Practices of Civic Engagement, ed. Gerard A. Hauser and Amy E. Grim (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003), 165-173.
22. Grossberg, We Gotta, 41.
23. Grossberg, We Gotta, 40.
24. Grossberg, We Gotta, 52-53. Also see Lawrence Grossberg, "Cultural Studies, Modern Logics, and Theories of Globalisation," in Back to Reality? Social Experience and Cultural Studies, ed. Angela McRobbie (New York: Manchester University Press, 1997), 7-35; and Lawrence Grossberg, "The Culture Studies' Crossroads Blues," European Journal of Cultural Studies 1 (1998): 65-82.
25. Grossberg, We Gotta, 52-53. Also see Lawrence Grossberg, "Cultural Studies, Modern Logics, and Theories of Globalisation," in Back to Reality? Social Experience and Cultural Studies, ed. Angela McRobbie (New York: Manchester University Press, 1997), 7-35; and Lawrence Grossberg, "The Culture Studies' Crossroads Blues," European Journal of Cultural Studies 1 (1998): 65-82.
26. Grossberg, We Gotta, 52-53. Also see Lawrence Grossberg, "Cultural Studies, Modern Logics, and Theories of Globalisation," in Back to Reality? Social Experience and Cultural Studies, ed. Angela McRobbie (New York: Manchester University Press, 1997), 7-35; and Lawrence Grossberg, "The Culture Studies' Crossroads Blues," European Journal of Cultural Studies 1 (1998): 65-82.
27. Even before Grossberg abandoned mediation, he advocated abandoning rhetoric. See Lawrence Grossberg, "Marxist Dialectics and Rhetorical Criticism," Quarterly Journal of Speech 65 (1979): 235-249.
28. William James, The Principles of Psychology (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981), 462.
29. Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., s.v. "fantasy."
30. Ernest G. Bormann, John F. Cragan, and Donald C. Shields, "In Defense of Symbolic Convergence Theory: A Look at the Theory and Its Criticisms After Two Decades," Communication Theory 4 (1994): 265.
31. Ernest G. Bormann, "Fantasy and Rhetorical Vision: The Rhetorical Criticism of Social Reality," Quarterly Journal of Speech 58 (1972): 397.
32. Bormann, "Fantasy and Rhetorical Vision," 397.
33. For the most recent work done with FTA, see John F. Cragan, Donald C. Shields, and Ernest Bormann, "Defending Symbolic Convergence Theory From an Imaginary Gunn," Quarterly Journal of Speech 89 (2003): 366-372.
34. See Sigmund Freud, "Katharina," trans. James Strachey, in Psychological Writings and Letters, ed. Sander L. Oilman (New York: Continuum, 1995), 1-10; and Sigmund Freud, "Letters to Fliess," trans. Eric Mosbacher and James Strachey, Psychological Writings, 11-16. For a discussion of Freud's early theory, see Gerald N. Izenberg, "Seduced and Abandoned: The Rise and Fall of Freud's Seduction Theory," in The Cambridge Companion to Freud, ed. Jerome Neu (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 25-43. Also see the discussion of "psychical reality" in J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973), 363-364. The origin of Freud's seduction theory has been contested, however; see Allen Esterson, "Jeffrey Masson and Freud's Seduction Theory: A New Fable Based on Old Myths," History of the Human Sciences 11 (1998): 1-21.
35. See Sigmund Freud, "Katharina," trans. James Strachey, in Psychological Writings and Letters, ed. Sander L. Oilman (New York: Continuum, 1995), 1-10; and Sigmund Freud, "Letters to Fliess," trans. Eric Mosbacher and James Strachey, Psychological Writings, 11-16. For a discussion of Freud's early theory, see Gerald N. Izenberg, "Seduced and Abandoned: The Rise and Fall of Freud's Seduction Theory," in The Cambridge Companion to Freud, ed. Jerome Neu (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 25-43. Also see the discussion of "psychical reality" in J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973), 363-364. The origin of Freud's seduction theory has been contested, however; see Allen Esterson, "Jeffrey Masson and Freud's Seduction Theory: A New Fable Based on Old Myths," History of the Human Sciences 11 (1998): 1-21.
36. See Sigmund Freud, "Katharina," trans. James Strachey, in Psychological Writings and Letters, ed. Sander L. Oilman (New York: Continuum, 1995), 1-10; and Sigmund Freud, "Letters to Fliess," trans. Eric Mosbacher and James Strachey, Psychological Writings, 11-16. For a discussion of Freud's early theory, see Gerald N. Izenberg, "Seduced and Abandoned: The Rise and Fall of Freud's Seduction Theory," in The Cambridge Companion to Freud, ed. Jerome Neu (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 25-43. Also see the discussion of "psychical reality" in J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973), 363-364. The origin of Freud's seduction theory has been contested, however; see Allen Esterson, "Jeffrey Masson and Freud's Seduction Theory: A New Fable Based on Old Myths," History of the Human Sciences 11 (1998): 1-21.
37. See Sigmund Freud, "Katharina," trans. James Strachey, in Psychological Writings and Letters, ed. Sander L. Oilman (New York: Continuum, 1995), 1-10; and Sigmund Freud, "Letters to Fliess," trans. Eric Mosbacher and James Strachey, Psychological Writings, 11-16. For a discussion of Freud's early theory, see Gerald N. Izenberg, "Seduced and Abandoned: The Rise and Fall of Freud's Seduction Theory," in The Cambridge Companion to Freud, ed. Jerome Neu (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 25-43. Also see the discussion of "psychical reality" in J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973), 363-364. The origin of Freud's seduction theory has been contested, however; see Allen Esterson, "Jeffrey Masson and Freud's Seduction Theory: A New Fable Based on Old Myths," History of the Human Sciences 11 (1998): 1-21.
38. See Sigmund Freud, "Katharina," trans. James Strachey, in Psychological Writings and Letters, ed. Sander L. Oilman (New York: Continuum, 1995), 1-10; and Sigmund Freud, "Letters to Fliess," trans. Eric Mosbacher and James Strachey, Psychological Writings, 11-16. For a discussion of Freud's early theory, see Gerald N. Izenberg, "Seduced and Abandoned: The Rise and Fall of Freud's Seduction Theory," in The Cambridge Companion to Freud, ed. Jerome Neu (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 25-43. Also see the discussion of "psychical reality" in J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973), 363-364. The origin of Freud's seduction theory has been contested, however; see Allen Esterson, "Jeffrey Masson and Freud's Seduction Theory: A New Fable Based on Old Myths," History of the Human Sciences 11 (1998): 1-21.
39. See Dylan Evans, An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis (New York: Routledge, 1996), 59-61; J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, 314-319; Slavoj Žižek, The Metastases of Enjoyment: Six Essays on Woman and Causality (New York: Verso, 1994), esp. 177-181.
40. See Dylan Evans, An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis (New York: Routledge, 1996), 59-61; J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, 314-319; Slavoj Žižek, The Metastases of Enjoyment: Six Essays on Woman and Causality (New York: Verso, 1994), esp. 177-181.
41. See Dylan Evans, An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis (New York: Routledge, 1996), 59-61; J. Laplanche and J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis, 314-319; Slavoj Žižek, The Metastases of Enjoyment: Six Essays on Woman and Causality (New York: Verso, 1994), esp. 177-181.
42. Evans, 59.
43. Robert Freed Bales, Personality and Interpersonal Behavior (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970), 18.
44. Bales, 137.
45. Bormann has characterized Bales as only "hinting" at the mapping of "irrational and unconscious forces," arguably misleading scholars into believing that Bales was a reluctant Freudian. Bales insists that the "mysterious drag" of fantasy is unquestionably "due to the fact that the fantasies aroused [among groups] are partly unconscious, because they are repressed." See Ernest G. Bormann, "Fantasy and Rhetorical Vision: Ten Years Later," Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 290; and Bales, 138.
46. Bormann has characterized Bales as only "hinting" at the mapping of "irrational and unconscious forces," arguably misleading scholars into believing that Bales was a reluctant Freudian. Bales insists that the "mysterious drag" of fantasy is unquestionably "due to the fact that the fantasies aroused [among groups] are partly unconscious, because they are repressed." See Ernest G. Bormann, "Fantasy and Rhetorical Vision: Ten Years Later," Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 290; and Bales, 138.
47. Bales, 138-139.
48. Ernest G. Bormann, The Force of Fantasy: Restoring the American Dream (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2001), 5.
49. The heated exchange between G. P. Mohrmann and Ernest G. Bormann in 1982 is a good example. See Ernest G. Bormann, "Fantasy and Rhetorical Vision: Ten Years Later," Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 288-305; and G. P. Mohrmann, "Fantasy Theme Criticism: A Peroration," Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 306-313.
50. The heated exchange between G. P. Mohrmann and Ernest G. Bormann in 1982 is a good example. See Ernest G. Bormann, "Fantasy and Rhetorical Vision: Ten Years Later," Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 288-305; and G. P. Mohrmann, "Fantasy Theme Criticism: A Peroration," Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 306-313.
51. Ernest G. Bormann, John F. Cragan, and Donald C. Shields, "In Defense of Symbolic Convergence Theory," 270.
52. Ernest G. Bormann, John F. Cragan, and Donald C. Shields, "Three Decades of Developing, Grounding, and Using Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT)," Communication Yearbook 25 (2001): 273.
53. The proposed meaning of "motive" for the upcoming edition of the OED is "Senses relating to inner impulses and mental activities." Oxford English Dictionary, new edition (draft, 2000), s.v. "motive." Accessed 17 May 2003; http://www.oed.com/
54. Of course, Kenneth Burke had recast motive as a dramatic narrative structure many years prior to symbolic convergence theory. For Burke, motives are retroactive stories or names for past acts, for bridging a gap or "intermediate area of expression that is not wholly deliberate, yet not wholly unconscious. It lies midway between aimless utterance and speech directly purposive." Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), xiii. The difference between Burke's divining rod for motive, the pentad, and fantasy theme analysis, however, is the motor. Although Burke held that motives were discernible "in the text," he also seemed to recognize the existence of unconscious impulses. For example, Burke's argument that humans are "goaded by the spirit of hierarchy" or "moved by a sense of order" and "rotten with perfection" imply impulses of which we are usually unaware. Kenneth Burke, "Definition of Man," in Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), 3-24. Also see Mark Wright, "Burkean and Freudian Theories of Identification," Communication Quarterly 42 (1994): 301-310; and Mark Wright, "Identification and the Preconscious," Communication Studies 44 (1994): 144-156.
55. Of course, Kenneth Burke had recast motive as a dramatic narrative structure many years prior to symbolic convergence theory. For Burke, motives are retroactive stories or names for past acts, for bridging a gap or "intermediate area of expression that is not wholly deliberate, yet not wholly unconscious. It lies midway between aimless utterance and speech directly purposive." Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), xiii. The difference between Burke's divining rod for motive, the pentad, and fantasy theme analysis, however, is the motor. Although Burke held that motives were discernible "in the text," he also seemed to recognize the existence of unconscious impulses. For example, Burke's argument that humans are "goaded by the spirit of hierarchy" or "moved by a sense of order" and "rotten with perfection" imply impulses of which we are usually unaware. Kenneth Burke, "Definition of Man," in Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), 3-24. Also see Mark Wright, "Burkean and Freudian Theories of Identification," Communication Quarterly 42 (1994): 301-310; and Mark Wright, "Identification and the Preconscious," Communication Studies 44 (1994): 144-156.
56. Of course, Kenneth Burke had recast motive as a dramatic narrative structure many years prior to symbolic convergence theory. For Burke, motives are retroactive stories or names for past acts, for bridging a gap or "intermediate area of expression that is not wholly deliberate, yet not wholly unconscious. It lies midway between aimless utterance and speech directly purposive." Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), xiii. The difference between Burke's divining rod for motive, the pentad, and fantasy theme analysis, however, is the motor. Although Burke held that motives were discernible "in the text," he also seemed to recognize the existence of unconscious impulses. For example, Burke's argument that humans are "goaded by the spirit of hierarchy" or "moved by a sense of order" and "rotten with perfection" imply impulses of which we are usually unaware. Kenneth Burke, "Definition of Man," in Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), 3-24. Also see Mark Wright, "Burkean and Freudian Theories of Identification," Communication Quarterly 42 (1994): 301-310; and Mark Wright, "Identification and the Preconscious," Communication Studies 44 (1994): 144-156.
57. Of course, Kenneth Burke had recast motive as a dramatic narrative structure many years prior to symbolic convergence theory. For Burke, motives are retroactive stories or names for past acts, for bridging a gap or "intermediate area of expression that is not wholly deliberate, yet not wholly unconscious. It lies midway between aimless utterance and speech directly purposive." Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), xiii. The difference between Burke's divining rod for motive, the pentad, and fantasy theme analysis, however, is the motor. Although Burke held that motives were discernible "in the text," he also seemed to recognize the existence of unconscious impulses. For example, Burke's argument that humans are "goaded by the spirit of hierarchy" or "moved by a sense of order" and "rotten with perfection" imply impulses of which we are usually unaware. Kenneth Burke, "Definition of Man," in Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), 3-24. Also see Mark Wright, "Burkean and Freudian Theories of Identification," Communication Quarterly 42 (1994): 301-310; and Mark Wright, "Identification and the Preconscious," Communication Studies 44 (1994): 144-156.
58. This is why G. P. Mohrmann claimed fantasy was a "tautology." See G.P. Mohrmann, "An Essay on Fantasy Theme Criticism," Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 109-132.
59. Mohrmann, "Fantasy Theme Criticism: A Peroration," 310. Insofar as an explanation of compelling, suasive "forces" is lacking, it could be argued that fantasy theme criticism does not seem to be rhetorical criticism, an observation that is punctuated by the social scientific rechristening of the theory in later years. In one of their latest summaries of the theory, Bormann, Cragan, and Shields suggest that "one of the unique characteristics of SCT is that it is a general theory built on the model of the natural sciences." Bormann, Cragan, and Shields, "Three Decades of Developing," 272.
60. Mohrmann, "Fantasy Theme Criticism: A Peroration," 310. Insofar as an explanation of compelling, suasive "forces" is lacking, it could be argued that fantasy theme criticism does not seem to be rhetorical criticism, an observation that is punctuated by the social scientific rechristening of the theory in later years. In one of their latest summaries of the theory, Bormann, Cragan, and Shields suggest that "one of the unique characteristics of SCT is that it is a general theory built on the model of the natural sciences." Bormann, Cragan, and Shields, "Three Decades of Developing," 272.
61. This is especially the case in film studies. See Robert Lapsley and Michael Westlake, Film Theory: An Introduction (New York: Manchester University Press/St. Martin's Press, 1996), esp. 67-104; and Laura Mulvey, Visual and Other Pleasures (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989), esp. 15-26.
62. This is especially the case in film studies. See Robert Lapsley and Michael Westlake, Film Theory: An Introduction (New York: Manchester University Press/St. Martin's Press, 1996), esp. 67-104; and Laura Mulvey, Visual and Other Pleasures (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989), esp. 15-26.
63. See Philippe Julien, Jacques Lacan's Return to Freud: The Real, the Symbolic, and the Imaginary, trans. Devra Beck Simiu (New York: New York University Press, 1994), 118-139.
64. See Barbara A. Biesecker, "Rhetorical Studies and the 'New' Psychoanalysis: What's the Real Problem? or Framing the Problem of the Real," Quarterly Journal of Speech 84 (1998): 222-259.
65. Slavoj Žižek, The Sublime Object of Ideology (New York: Verso, 1989), 3. Strictly speaking, the Real does not exist; nonetheless, it plays a crucial role in the symbolic order.
66. Bales, 153.
67. Slavoj Žižek, The Plague of Fantasies (New York: Verso, 1997), 1-2.
68. Bales, 152.
69. Jacques Lacan, "The Mirror State as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience," trans. Alan Sheridan, in Ecrits: A Selection (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1977), 1-7.
70. Lacan, "The Mirror Stage," 2. Also see Jacques Lacan, "The Topic of the Imaginary," in The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book One: Freud's Papers on Technique, 1953-1954, trans. Jacques-Alain Miller (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), 71-88.
71. Lacan, "The Mirror Stage," 2. Also see Jacques Lacan, "The Topic of the Imaginary," in The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book One: Freud's Papers on Technique, 1953-1954, trans. Jacques-Alain Miller (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), 71-88.
72. I have deliberately avoided the discussion of what is given up - the phallus - in the main text because it is frequently misunderstood as a penis, which it is not. Regardless of one's sex, the phallus is the imaginary and symbolic notion of wholeness, completeness, and unity that functions formally as the object one must attain for power, male or female. There have been many criticisms of Lacan's use of the phallus as the "ultimate signifier," because it can be said to be a "transcendental signified" (Derrida) or a reification of patriarchy. See Dylan Evans's entry on the concept in his Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis, 140-144; and Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York: Routledge, 1999), 45-100.
73. I have deliberately avoided the discussion of what is given up - the phallus - in the main text because it is frequently misunderstood as a penis, which it is not. Regardless of one's sex, the phallus is the imaginary and symbolic notion of wholeness, completeness, and unity that functions formally as the object one must attain for power, male or female. There have been many criticisms of Lacan's use of the phallus as the "ultimate signifier," because it can be said to be a "transcendental signified" (Derrida) or a reification of patriarchy. See Dylan Evans's entry on the concept in his Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis, 140-144; and Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York: Routledge, 1999), 45-100.
74. For Lacan this cause is always "the desire of the Other," in the sense that the true or Real a is the desire for the Other's desire. See Bruce Fink, A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), 50-71.
75. In Lacan's latest theoretical formulations, desire and drive are two separate concepts. In Lacan's earlier work the goal of analysis was to let the analysand put his or her own desire into play. Later, however, Lacan realized desire is always articulated to the Other, so he focused on the liberation of one's "drives." See Fink, 205-217.
76. Fink, 53-54.
77. Edward, 42.
78. Edward, 41.
79. See Peters, 63-108 and 137-176. Peters is particularly interested in how communication teletechnologies, beginning with the telegraph, amplified the communication fantasy to its logical extreme: communing with spirits.
80. Peters, 94.
81. Peters, 2.
82. See James Randi, Flim-Flam: Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998).
83. Jaroff, 52.
84. Crossing Over With John Edward, "Steven Can Finally Speak Clearly," broadcast 19 May 2003 (syndicated), WGMB (FOX affiliate) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
85. See Sarah Trenholm and Arthur Jensen, Interpersonal Communication, 4th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2000), When I teach interpersonal communication I point out to students that, in our society, our label for a good listener is "psychic."
86. Edward, 3.
87. Peters, 33-51.
88. See Marks and Kammann, 155-199.
89. Jacques Lacan, "The Subject Who is Supposed to Know, Of the First Dyad, and of the Good," trans. Jacques-Alain Miller, in The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1978), 230-243.
90. What happens is that the analyst sets himself up as a cause of desire, eventually courting identification. Once identification occurs, the patient will begin blaming the analyst for his or her troubles, standing in as both the Other and the cause of desire. The end goal is for the patient to stop demanding the Other to produce the a. See Fink, 28-41.
91. See Fink, 28-41.
92. Larry King Live, first broadcast 19 June 1988 by CNN.
93. Peters, 21.
94. John Louis Lucaites, Celeste Michelle Condit, and Sally Caudill, Contemporary Rhetorical Theory: A Reader (New York: The Guilford Press, 1999), 611-12. This statement is patently mystifying.
95. In the words of Edward Schiappa, this seems to me like another good proposal for "sophisticated modernism." See Edward Schiappa, "Sophisticated Modernism and the Continuing Importance of Argument Evaluation," in G. Thomas Goodnight (Ed.), Arguing Communication and Culture, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: National Communication Association, 2002), 51-58.
96. Texts in Context: Critical Dialogues on Significant Episodes in American Political Rhetoric, ed. Michael C. Leff and Fred J. Kauffeld (Davis, CA: Hermagoras Press, 1989).