The Imagos of Freud and LacanTowards understanding structure
 
Helen Sheehan
 
Imago is a word in Latin: image in English, or, to be more precise; form. Lacan’s reading of the term, particularly in his Seminar on Identification (1961-1962) leads him to ask: why have we allowed the imagos of Freud and Lacan to be trivialised? Why have we permitted these ’imperceptible traces’ to serve for our amusement, even our derision? Lacan reminds us that their use is revelatory as a means of understanding structure. This paper aims to examine this issue.