1
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
2
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Science, University of Gonabad, Gonabad, Iran.
10.22059/jor.2025.399671.2700
Abstract
The present study offers a Lacanian reading of The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World to show how Marques represents subjectivity in the story. The story is about the villagers’ perception of a big drowned man who appears as a gatecrasher from the sea as well as their missed encounter with him. Unable to bring him to the Lacanian symbolic order and experience the jouissance of object a, the villagers decide to send him back to the depth of the sea. The women who care more for him and are, to some extent, able to experience non-symbolic jouissance, do not reach the understanding that the (absolute) other is not perfect, for they are not conscious of the fact that desire is desire of the other. The women, wandering in the unending chain of signification in search of the lost signified of the elusive signifier of the drowned man, decide to leave him in the sea who is likely to come back as the floating signifier of the lack. Reading the story in light of Lacan shows Marquez’s view of the complexity of subjectivity, and mythologizing the signifier of lack, and proves how Marquez’s writings can sit well with the Lacanian framework.
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Abbasi, P. & Haghshenas, Z. (2026). Floating signifier: A Lacanian reading of The Handsomest drowned man in the world by Marquez. Research in Contemporary World Literature, 31(3), 439–545. https://doi.org/10.22059/jor.2025.399671.2700
MLA
Abbasi, P., & Haghshenas, Z. "Floating signifier: A Lacanian reading of The Handsomest drowned man in the world by Marquez", Research in Contemporary World Literature, 31, 3, 2026, 439–545. doi: 10.22059/jor.2025.399671.2700
HARVARD
Abbasi, P., & Haghshenas, Z. (2026). 'Floating signifier: A Lacanian reading of The Handsomest drowned man in the world by Marquez', Research in Contemporary World Literature, 31(3), pp. 439–545. doi: 10.22059/jor.2025.399671.2700
CHICAGO
Abbasi, P. & Haghshenas, Z., "Floating signifier: A Lacanian reading of The Handsomest drowned man in the world by Marquez." Research in Contemporary World Literature, 31 3 (2026): 439–545, doi: 10.22059/jor.2025.399671.2700
VANCOUVER
Abbasi P., Haghshenas Z. Floating signifier: A Lacanian reading of The Handsomest drowned man in the world by Marquez. Research in Contemporary World Literature. 2026;31(3):439–545 (In Persian). doi: 10.22059/jor.2025.399671.2700
