It is evident that John Fowles draws a parallel to Lacan’s mirrors stage early on in Mantissa. Waking up from a coma in the very beginning, Miles Green refers to himself as “it.” Not remembering what happened, the mirror stage takes place again for him at square one. “It was conscious of a luminous and infinite haze, as if it were floating, godlike, alpha and omega, over a sea of vapor and looking down; then less happily, after an interval of obscure duration, off murmured sounds and peripheral shadows, which reduced the impression of boundless space and empire to something much more contracted and unaccommodating” (3).
In this awakening he finds himself conscious, but is very unsure of what is happening. He then notices labels and images around him, formulating a setting. Soon after he sees a woman standing by his side reciting his name. She helps him realize that his name is Miles, and she is his wife, Claire. He then proceeds to answer a list of questions she asks him, including his eye color, hair, complexion, and age. He knew all of the answers even though he could not put together how.
This section directly relates to Lacan’s ideas of the mirror stage. When newborns enter the world, they only are able to identify themselves. From this everything around them revolves around their needs. Once they grow older it is realized that they are around others with needs. They are no longer the center. Fowles makes a great connection to this theory in the opening of Mantissa. Miles goes through the mirror stage for the second time around when he wakes and starts to identify the world around him.
damn
14 years ago
1 comment:
Your right.
That is a perfect representation of the mirror stage. His inability to communicate and his inability to understand where he is until much later on, when that quote is actually repeated toward the end of the first section.
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