the Lingis/Lacan meeting

That amusing story of Habermas showing up without warning right outside my bedroom door (while translating, I was also the Evanston housemate of Lafont and her partner) reminds me of another Lingis story, this one involving Lacan.

In early career, Lingis would hang out in Paris regularly. He would generally attend as many lectures/seminars of Lacan as possible. But due to overflowing crowds, Lacan had a sort of rule that you had to write in advance to reserve a place. Permission was always granted, but you had to write for it.

One day, Lingis sat in a café with a French friend, and they were shocked to realize that they were on the verge of missing the deadline of reserving a place with Lacan. Lingis immediately pulled out paper and an envelope, and wrote the usual permission request. He then immediately took the letter to the nearest mailbox (he apparently already had stamps) and dropped it in the box.

A few days later, Lingis suddenly realized that he had forgotten to address the envelope. And the deadline for registration was that day or the next day, so Lingis immediately went to the office of Lacan’s secretary to request permission in person.

He knocked on the door. The door opened. “And there, to my horror,” Lingis says, “was Jacques Lacan himself.” The young Lingis nervously explained what had happened with the letter. He’s sure he saw Lacan smirk with delight to think that the unconscious of Lingis assumed that Lacan was so famous that no address would be necessary for the letter to reach him.

And what resulted was a long conversation with Lacan, lasting several hours.

He had even better luck with Levinas after translating Totality and Infinity years later. He says Levinas gave him the royal treatment in Paris.