In this edition of Nobodaddy we will talk about laughter.
If already in Genesis, Ham, son of Noah, laughed at the decline of the naked and devirilised father, we find today, in the TV series Machos Alfas, this mocking trait towards male subjects who find themselves disoriented, not knowing which way to turn in order to correspond to what would be a politically correct virility.
We laugh much less however at the nostalgia of the repairing father that is heard from Italy, following the denunciations of abusive sports coaches towards female athletes. There, the patriarchal figure is taken very seriously, and not in its dimension of semblance that Lacan has progressively denuded.
The lacking or all-powerful father, who unleashes mocking, fascinated or denouncing passions, belongs to the imaginary register. Yet, the analytic experience operates a displacement of the impostor father towards the signifier-master as a necessary function of a position of exception. And laughter can return, as it is then possible to make use of the father as a singular Witz for each one, and no longer as an anonymous and blind norm.
Anselm Kiefer’s installation in the Doge’s Palace thus takes on a facetious quality: Kiefer becomes a mischievous guide, leading visitors through the trappings of a fallen power, whose decorum he will ultimately deflect. A Witz-work thus, which, like the analytical journey, does not allow itself to be circumscribed by a meaning.
Enjoy the reading!
Translation: Benjamin Wimmer
Proofreading: Ana-Marija Kroker
Picture : © Fabien de Cugnac
