lacansmirror, Macherey

Macherey's theory of the spoken and the unspoken traces the context and mood of all any conversation.  For example, when I am ask my girlfriend if she is mad at me, and she doesn't respond...odds are she is mad.  Her silence has meaning and she can use it to express herself.  Macherey explains that "either all around or in its wake the explicit requires the implicit: for in order to say anything, there are other things which must be not be said" (17).  In my earlier example the implicit was the feelings that were not said, while the explicit could not be explained.  Silence can be powerful, but it can also be confusing.  

A moment of silence can be used to send a message, recognize a person/event, or result in confusion if the explicit is unexplained or unnoticed.  The absence of words can be created from the unconscious as Freud explained.  Macherey argues that "to reach utterance, all speech envelops itself in the unspoken" (17).  Without speaking the unconscious can develop ideas and connect what has not been said.  There can be a clear statement with obvious meaning even if the message is not spoken.  The message however needs the listener to be able to connect the dots in order to fully understand the messages meaning.  In order to better understand a work, Macherey uses the two questions: a question with utterance and a following question.  He says "to know the work, we must move outside it" (21).  In addition, "the work has its margins, an area of incompleteness from which we can observe its birth and its production" (21).  Interestingly in a text, the margin is silent or blank, while the words contain the meaning.  However, Macherey argues that without understanding the framework or "margin", the text is illegible.  

Similarly in my first example, without understanding the context of the situation, her silence could mean anything.  When I provide context, asking her if she is mad at me, then the reader understands what her silence means.  I believe Macherey's theories are even present in texting and online messaging today.  When a message is sent, and nothing is returned, there can be meaning.  The utterances of even a digital language can be stronger than when speaking face to face.