ABSTRACT
It is true that the difference is not readily visible at the level of the form of the name. Nevertheless, the symptom name does more than a master signifier, insofar as it does not elicit predicates in the way a master signifier does; and specifically, it is made from something else: it is a product of the savoir-faire of the working artist. Lacan often said, about artists in general, but specifically about the surrealists: 'they really didn't know what they were doing'. The same for poets. Like them, Joyce was justified in deriving from his art his 'pride to the point of satiation'. The artificer's art has the same value as the Other of the real Other; in other words, it is something he alone enjoys, something that – Lacan insists – remains 'off limits' to the reader. It is noteworthy that from the beginning of The Sinthome, Lacan had at his disposal the thesis of supplementation through art.
