Fetishism and Transitional Object
Outline
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Freud’s Fetishism
What is a fetish?
Fear of Castration narcissism
Substitute for the penis
Transitional Object
Transitional Character of Religious Art
Transitional Character of the Material of Art
Lacan and the Power of the Gaze
What is a fetish?
• It revealed itself so naturally
• The fetish is a substitute for the penis . . . But
for a particular and quite special penis that
had been extremely important in early
childhood but had later been lost ( Freud 953).
• The fetish is precisely designed to preserve [a
special penis] from extinction (953).
•  the woman’s (the mother’s) penis that the
little boy once believed in and does not want
to give up.
Fear of Castration narcissism
• If a woman had been castrated, then his own
possession of a penis was in danger. 
narcissism, attached to that particular organ.
• Laforgue would say. . .
• The boy “scotomizes” his perception of the
woman’s lack of a penis ( Freud 953).
•  to form a mental blind spot about.
• But, Freud does not think the perception is
totally wiped out. (it has persisted)
Substitute for the penis
• A reached compromise of the conflict: under
the dominance of the unconscious laws of
thought in his mind, the woman has got a
penis, but this penis is no longer the same as
it was before (Freud 954).
•  something else has taken its place, has
been appointed its substitute.
• Set up a memorial to itself in the creation of
this substitute.
Other examples
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(Freud 954-955)
Stopping memory in traumatic amnesia
Failed cognizance of death
(a piece of reality is disavowed by the ego, just
as the castration of women is disavowed in
fetishists.)
• Two current: (situation bet. Two assumptions)
• -in mental life, father’s death is not recognized
• -another current, took full account of the fact
• Subtle instance: both the disavowed and the
affirmation of the castration
• Affection and hostility in the treatment of the
fetish—which run parallel with the disavowed
and the acknowledgement of the castration—
are mixed in unequal proportions in different
cases, so that the one or the other is more
clearly recognized (Freud 956).
• “the woman has still got a penis” and “my
father has castrated the woman”
Transitional Object
• A special object (teddy bear, blanket)
• Purpose of symbolization—separation from
mother, absence of mother
• A part of ego/ self
• Ex: Linus experiences the anxiety of an assault
on his ego, when he is separated from the
blanket.
Transitional Character of Religious Art
• Gods are up (in the sky or mountaintop)—
Transitional architecture to relate people with
their gods ( Adams 201).
• The Mesopotamian ziggurates
• The Egyptian pyramids
• The Gothic cathedrals
• Literally rise toward God and the heavens
• Visual reminders of another level of existence
The Mesopotamian ziggurates
www.golde...ct.org.uk/ 206ziggurat.html
The Egyptian pyramids
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• Exterior architecture  interior image of god
• Temples and churches express the transition
between material, exterior world of the
worshiper and the interior sanctuary housing
an image of god.
• The architectural “journey” from exterior to
interior replicates the child’s developmental
“journey” from interior to exterior, from the
mother’s body to the outside world
• ( Adams 202).
life and death
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Death masks and portraiture
Presence and absence of mother
Image real person
Self-portraiture plays a special role in regard
to the transitional object. In the case of a
straightforward self-portrait, the artist seems
to be communicating directly with the
audience, bridging the gap between artist and
viewers ( Adams 204).
The Transitional Character of the
Material of Art
• “Formation” and becoming through forming is
a part of the transitional character of art.
• Artist’s idea—natural materials (transitional
character)—artist’s product.
• The transitional is like a bridge:
• ideas images
Lacan and the Power of the Gaze
• “desire” is the instinct aroused by a gap, or a
perceived absence—by something not seen
( Adams 207).
• The fort/da game is predicated on child’s
perception of mother’s absence / presence (207).
• Mirror phase
• Desire is from permanent “lack” (losing the sense
of totality)
• Child’s castration anxiety is the result of a “lack,”
or an absence.
• Lacan’s theoretical emphasis on what is seen
and not seen, what is present and absent,
informs his related concepts of the “gaze” and
“desire.” The gaze rivets the subject to
something that is present, whereas desire is
the instinct for what is absent (208).
• “gaze” should be present
• (the imaginary of perception: expression of
the condition and the linguistic structure of
the symbolic.)
Works Cited
Freud, Sigmund. “Fetishism.” The Norton
Anthology of Literary Theories and
Criticism. Eds. Vincent Leitch, William Cain,
Laurie Anne Finke, and Barbara Johnson.
New York: Norton, 2001. 952-956. Print.
Adams, Laurie Schneider. “Psychoanalysis II: Winnicott
and Lacan.” The Methodologies of Art: An
Introduction. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. 200210. Print.