ABSTRACT This article contrasts the theories of ego formation put forward in Jacques Lacan’s ‘The Mirror Stage’ and Donald Winnicott’s ‘The Mirror Role of the Mother,’ and discusses their methodological implications for the field of American studies. While Lacan theorises subjectivity as irreparably split and (self-)alienated, Winnicott offers an optimistic version of a self which is sustained in its going-on-being by a nourishing maternal presence. These disparate conceptualisations of the human being produce two powerful frames through which to approach culture. Yet, while Lacan is widely recognised in the American studies scholarship, Winnicott remains virtually unknown. This article aims to enhance the visibility of the British author by outlining the productivity of his ideas for any cultural or literary analysis. By stressing the foundational significance of the primary bond Winnicott’s theory intervenes in the recent critiques of neoliberal capitalism which remain halted in a Lacanian-like melancholic mode, masked by a cultural command of perpetual enjoyment. The Winnicottian perspective challenges Lacan’s fixation on the unattainable objects of desire, reiterated by the neoliberal myth of self-perfection through consumption, and offers an alternative pattern of human sociality, based on relational, self-reflexive moderation.

中文翻译：

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没有母性的主题和有母性的自我：雅克·拉康和唐纳德·温尼科特的著作对美国研究“我”的形成的启示

摘要本文对比了雅克·拉康（Jacques Lacan）的《镜面舞台》（The Mirror Stage）和唐纳德·温尼科特（Donald Winnicott）的《母亲的镜面角色》中提出的自我形成理论，并讨论了它们对美国研究领域的方法学意义。拉康认为主观性是不可分割的分裂和（自我）异化的，温尼科特则提供了一种乐观的自我形态，这种自我形态通过营养母体的存在而得以持续。这些关于人类的不同概念化产生了两个强大的框架，可通过这些框架来接近文化。然而，尽管拉康在美国研究奖学金中得到了广泛认可，但温尼科特仍然是一个未知数。本文旨在通过概述任何文化或文学分析的想法的生产力来提高英国作者的知名度。通过强调主要纽带的基础意义，温尼科特的理论介入了新自由主义资本主义的最新批判，这些批判仍然以拉康式的忧郁症模式停滞不前，被永久享乐的文化命令所掩盖。温尼科特的观点挑战了拉康对通过消费实现自我完善的新自由主义神话所重申的对无法实现的欲望目标的注视，并根据关系，自我反思的温和提供了人类社会的另一种模式。