ABSTRACT
Lacan studies the 'formations of the unconscious' in a very Freudian spirit. The formations of the unconscious are psychical phenomena in which the intervention of the unconscious is manifested in a veiled form. A careful analysis, using the technique of free association around each detail, reveals, however, a whole network of signiflers united by various associative links. The Lacanian thesis which is the main object of Part Seven is: the assimilation of the processes of condensation and displacement proper to the unconscious to two linguistic mechanisms: metaphor and metonymy. Conscious discourse is rather like those manuscripts where a first text has been rubbed out and covered by a second. In such manuscripts, the first text can be glimpsed through the gaps in the second. The phantasy, with its mixed character, participating in both the pre-conscious-conscious system and the unconscious system, is also a formation of the unconscious in that it allows desire to arise.
