ABSTRACT:
What is more foreign to us than our own unconscious, showing us a limit to what can be seen and said? The author shows that not only is the foreign inscribed in the gaze, a gaze that cannot be reduced to the visible, but that it lies at the very heart of the human subject. Its irruption at various occasions, including when travelling between different countries, confronts us with what divides us and remains an enigma. This challenging experience mobilises our subjectivity, calling for a unique solution. Far from always being a sign of pathology, it can lead to inventive action, as shown by artistic and rite-of-passage experiences. The author’s approach relies on what is transmitted to us by psychoanalysis, primarily highlighting the work of Freud.
Keywords:
foreign; the gaze,; the unconscious; depersonalisation; inventiveness; rite of passage