Our Grand Despair: An Identification Based Analysis on the Axis of Freud and Lacan

According to Freud, the concept of identification, which is a kind of emotional bond that people establish with each other, includes the subject, which is formed by the cognitive design of the person, and the object, which is formed by a quality of the other with whom the identification is established. The identification process occurs unconsciously and may be occur due to a loss of the identifying person (death of a loved one, loss of the object of desire, etc.). While for Freud, the subject of identification, which is formed by the cognitive design, is in the foreground in identification, for Lacan, the object of identification is the main component worthy of attention. The concept of identification does not always mean becoming the same as the other. The most concise meaning of identification is that the person who owns the cognitive design establishes a connection with the person who owns a quality that they seek unconsciously. In this article, Barış Bıçakçı’s novel Our Grand Despair, first published in 2004, is discussed within the framework of the concept of identification; the states of integration/being one/being whole experienced by the characters through their identification are examined. In this context, the identification experiences of Ender and Çetin, the main characters of the novel, being at the forefront, the identification of these characters with other people in their lives and their identification experiences with Nihal, who can be considered the other main character of the novel, are reviewed.