Agalma: Commentary on Session X

Abstract

This commentary focuses on Lacan’s enigmatic word—agalma. Lacan begins the session right where the last session ended, that is, with the word “agalma,” which many in his audience apparently didn’t quite catch. Agalma is an ornament or a piece of jewelry. But while this is technically correct, Lacan thinks it only scratches the surface of what the Greek word is expressing. For him, it seems to be a topological concept (more on this to come), and he suggests that we should think a bit more about why one would ever want to “bejewel” oneself in the first place.