Silence and The Real. Testimony Between the Impossibility and Obligation

Abstract

In this essay the author proceeds in four stages. After 1) tracing out Lyotard's derivation of his concept of the impossible, yet necessary testimony via his analysis of victimisation of a speaking being deprived of the means to present the harm he or she has sufferd, particularly as it occurs in his The Differend, 2) to addresses the problem of a »feeling of pain« as a tenant-lieu of the missing witness; 3) admitting contrasting light from Lacan's elaboration of the two modes of being silent, silere and tacere, in order to 4) conclude with reflections on the subjective destitution implied in Lyotard's conception of art as witness.