"Writings scatter to the winds blank checks in an insane charge. And were they not such flying leaves, there would be no purloined letters"

Jacques Lacan's quote, "Writings spread to the winds blank checks in a ridiculous charge. And were they not such flying leaves, there would be no purloined letters", welcomes a deep dive into both psychoanalytic thought and literary theory. Lacan, a prominent psychoanalyst, typically utilized abundant, metaphorical language to communicate complex concepts about the unconscious, subjectivity, and language. This quote can be unpacked through its symbolic representation of interaction and the unconscious.

The phrase "Writings spread to the winds blank checks in an insane charge" seems to suggest the dispersal and intrinsic unpredictability of composed communication. In this metaphor, "blank checks" represent pledges or prospective significances-- the language as an open-ended tool that can be filled with various analyses. The "outrageous charge" might show the chaotic, unrestrained energy with which ideas and meanings travel as soon as they are set into words, reflecting the unpredictability inherent in human interaction and interaction.

The 2nd part of the quote, "And were they not such flying leaves, there would be no purloined letters", evokes Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Purloined Letter", which Lacan notoriously evaluated in his workshops. Here, "flying leaves" can be viewed as ephemeral concepts or messages that float freely and unpredictably, comparable to the "blank checks" earlier. Their transient nature parallels the purloined letter in Poe's tale, which gets its significance more through its displacement and the actions surrounding it than through any intrinsic content.

Hence, Lacan's statement can be translated as a commentary on the nature of language and significance. Language scatters significances like winds scatter leaves, with significances often concealed or altered in their trajectories. Just through this fundamental unpredictability and the motion of meaning do principles such as the "purloined letter" acquire significance. Without this dispersion-- without messages becoming evasive or concealed-- there would be little depth or secret to discover. Lacan stimulates the vibrant, elusive qualities of language that reflect how the human mind negotiates meaning, identity, and understanding.