Between Myth and Fantasy: On the Application of Psychoanalytic Tools to the Analysis of Political Discourse

This article is a critique of the research perspective that analyzes political myths based on the methods of the study of myths. The author points to the need to supplement this perspective with the Lacanian theory of fantasy, which allows for capture of subjective desire manifested in myths. Theories in the study of myths (of Lévi-Strauss and Barthes) conceptualize myth as an attempt to overcome the original antinomy of human experience by constructing a space of ahistorical meaning deprived of contradictions. Based on the analysis of classic study of myths texts and Marcin Napiórkowski’s work, the author points to a paradox within the methods of the study of myths: while it describes myth as a tool for getting rid of historical contradictions, it creates ahistorical, and therefore, mythologized, interpretative categories. Supplementing this method with the Lacanian theory of fantasy allows us to overcome this paradox by pointing to historicized interpretation of desire that is manifested in myths.