Beyond Structure
Yehuda Israely
Routledge eBooks August 27, 2026 DOI: 10.4324/9781003773764-12 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that figures such as the village fool and the shaman mark the limits of the signifying order: the fool remains outside social discourse and the exchange of words, while the shaman moves through trance and returns with a therapeutic myth. Schreber's account shows that when structure crumbles the world itself collapses, whereas Helen Keller's story indicates that entry into language is also entry into reality. The chapter proposes mysticism as a bridge between shamanic and analytic relations to myth, meaning, trance, and magic. |
Abstract
Chapter 11 asks what lies beyond structure: what happens when the signifier fails, and who stands at the edge of the community of the signifier. It begins from Lévi-Strauss’s reference to the “signified without signifier,” and follows a concrete figure of it: Fu, the village fool who circles the border between village and forest, present in the community yet outside its discourse, clinging to the object and living the closed circuit of the drive rather than entering the social exchange of words and subjects. The chapter then turns to the shaman as the opposite kind of liminal figure: someone often selected from childhood for proximity to trance experiences that exceed meaning, yet able to return with a therapeutic myth. Schreber’s account of psychosis shows what it means for structure to crumble, and with it the world itself, while Helen Keller’s story moves in the opposite direction, demonstrating how entry into language is also entry into reality. The chapter closes by comparing shamanic and analytic relations to myth, meaning, trance, and magic, with mysticism serving as a bridge between the two.