📜 Introductory
Note to the Reader Wilbert Salgado is a friend and ELT
colleague of mine. For sure his ars creativa is incredibly good, and
this story, Diastema, is a good example of it. A short story does not have to be
lengthy; it just needs to convey an idea through the plot, which is the one
that needs to be dealt with as a reader. Wilbert is good at it. His constant experiments with his ars
creativa have made him become a great representative of Nicaraguan
literature. |
The Gap of Desire: A Lacanian and Ironic Realist
Reading of Wilbert Salgado’s “Diastema”
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📜 Abstract This
essay explores the intersection between Lacanian psychoanalysis and the
aesthetics of irony and modern realism in Wilbert Salgado’s short story.
Drawing from Jacques Lacan’s theories on the symbolic, the mirror stage, and
the divided subject, the paper situates Salgado’s narrative voice within a
field of fractured identity and self-alienation. The analysis also highlights
irony as a modern realist device that exposes the subject’s struggle for
coherence within social and linguistic constructs. Supported by scholars such
as Žižek, Eagleton, and Barthes, the discussion demonstrates how Lacanian
thought deepens the understanding of contemporary Latin American short
fiction. The essay concludes that Salgado’s narrative reveals the ironic
disjunction between the self’s desire for wholeness and the impossibility of
achieving it in modern realist representation. |
📜 Keywords: Jacques
Lacan, Irony, Lacanian Analysis, Modern Realism, Psychoanalysis, Latin
American Literature, Wilbert Salgado, Literary Analysis, Literary Criticism,
Nicaraguan Literature |
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📜 Resumen Este ensayo analiza la intersección entre el psicoanálisis
lacaniano y las estéticas de la ironía y el realismo moderno en el cuento de
Wilbert Salgado. A partir de las teorías de Jacques Lacan sobre el estadio
del espejo, el orden simbólico y el sujeto dividido, el texto sitúa la voz
narrativa de Salgado en un contexto de identidad fracturada y autoalienación.
Asimismo, se resalta la ironía como un recurso propio del realismo moderno
que revela la lucha del sujeto por mantener una coherencia dentro de las
estructuras sociales y lingüísticas. Con el apoyo de teóricos como Žižek,
Eagleton y Barthes, el ensayo demuestra cómo la teoría lacaniana amplía la
comprensión de la narrativa contemporánea latinoamericana. En conclusión, la
narrativa de Salgado pone en evidencia la disyunción irónica entre el deseo
de totalidad del yo y la imposibilidad de alcanzarla en el marco del realismo
moderno. |
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📜 Resumo Este ensaio examina a intersecção entre a
psicanálise lacaniana e as estéticas da ironia e do realismo moderno na
narrativa de Wilbert Salgado. Baseando-se nas teorias de Jacques Lacan sobre
o estágio do espelho, o simbólico e o sujeito dividido, o texto posiciona a
voz narrativa de Salgado dentro de um campo de identidade fragmentada e
autoalienação. A ironia é abordada como um instrumento essencial do realismo
moderno, capaz de expor a tensão entre linguagem, desejo e verdade. Com apoio
de estudiosos como Žižek, Eagleton e Barthes, o ensaio mostra como a
perspectiva lacaniana aprofunda a leitura da ficção latino-americana
contemporânea. Conclui-se que a narrativa de Salgado revela a disjunção
irônica entre o desejo de completude do sujeito e a impossibilidade de
realizá-lo dentro das limitações do realismo moderno.
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Introduction
In
Wilbert Salgado’s short story “Diastema,” the narrator visits a bar
intending solitude, yet finds himself drawn into a magnetic, ambiguous
encounter with a woman he projects his fantasies onto. On one level, the story
reads as a witty vignette of failed seduction; on another, it reveals deeper dynamics
of desire, identity, and self-deception. This essay argues that the titular
“diastema” (a gap between teeth) functions as a metaphorical marker of the gap
inherent to subjectivity and desire, and that through a Lacanian psychological
lens we can trace how the narrator attempts to fill that gap via projection
onto the other. In parallel, a literary reading grounded in ironic modern
realism reveals how Salgado deploys contemporary everyday experience (the bar,
the michelada, the UFC fight) to dramatize the discrepancy between fantasy and
reality. Through this blog post I intend to analyze Wilbert’s story by using
Lacanian concepts to examine the narrator’s psychic economy; then the
subsequent part of my essay explores how irony and realist detail shape the
narrative’s effect; then the conclusion will synthesize both approaches
employed for the analysis.
Lacan: Lack and Desire
According
to Jacques Lacan, desire is always structured around lack: “the subject’s
desires are scripted … by an unconscious fundamental fantasy in which the
desiring subject is positioned in relation to its corresponding object-cause of
desire” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2023). In Salgado’s story,
“Diastema,” the narrator’s gaze falls on the woman, and he immediately
begins to “fill in the missing parts” of her frame, “since I’m a Gestalt kind
of man, I filled in the missing parts until her frame was complete.” He thus
attempts to complete the “lack” in his own subjectivity via identification with
her as fantasy object: she becomes less the other person and more a projection
of his ideal. The titular gap, the diastema, becomes emblematic of the
subject’s irreducible lack; the narrator sees it as physical and perhaps
symbolic, the very opening he hopes she will “fix.”
Lacan: Desire of the Other and
the Object petit a
Jacques
Lacan states that “man’s very desire is constituted … under the sign of
mediation: it is the desire to have one’s desire recognised” (LacanOnline.com,
2020). The narrator in Salgado’s story is acutely aware, though unconsciously, of
being looked at: “Her pupils gleaned, bright and liquid, like the plastic of a
brand-new cellphone just taken out of its box.” In that moment the narrator
reads not just attraction, but recognition. He raises his mug and murmurs “Hi.”
She responds with a nod. The shift from spectator to participant begins via
that recognition. Yet the recognition is mis-registered: the narrator projects
his own narrative of romance, when in fact the woman’s “interest” may simply be
polite or ambiguous. As the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2023)
notes, the object a is “a spectral, virtual construct … these
substitutes are always and necessarily inadequate and unsatisfactory due to an
insurmountable, ineliminable gap.” The narrator’s fantasy collides with reality
when the bartender clarifies: “She’s a dentist. A lesbian. Says she can fix
your diastema.” The fix he fantasized becomes literalized in a way he did not
anticipate.
Lacan: Fantasy, the Gap, and
Return to Solitude
Lacan
emphasizes that fantasy structures the subject’s relation to desire: one
endures the “lack” through the fantasy rather than eliminating it (Tel
Journal, 2016). The narrator’s inner monologue reveals this: “My mating
light flicked on. It had been a while since I’d had one of those romances that
arrive by coincidence.” He ponders being “the cat that lost his life to
curiosity—or if she’d purr.” But when the reality check arrives, that Solange
is uninterested, he returns to isolation: “I don’t think I smiled again.” The
fantasy evaporates, leaving the gap intact. In this way, Salgado dramatizes
Lacan’s point that the subject cannot bridge the lack; the gap remains, and
desire continues its circuit, often turning back into solitude.
Irony and Modern Realism:
Everyday Scene and Disillusionment
On the
literary plane, Salgado frames the story in mundane, everyday realism: a bar, a
TV showing a UFC fight, micheladas, and a napkin with eight digits. These
details root the narrative in contemporary urban life. Yet the tone is
ironically poised: the very “romance that arrives by coincidence” arrives only
to dissolve. The use of realistic detail heightens the ironic distance between
the narrator’s expectations and his outcome. In the tradition of modern
realism, everyday settings are not romanticized; here the bar becomes a space
of longing and disappointment. As Stasi (2025) notes, “the form of the novel
itself may have shifted in relation to the reality of the nation and of
national-popular collective life.” Salgado, in his short-story micro-form, follows
this lineage by using realistic detail to engage existential dynamics rather
than grand historical sweep.
Irony: Projection and
Self-Deception
Irony
emerges strongly in the narrator’s self-presentation and projection. He remarks
that he came “to enjoy my own company—a gift to myself after meeting everyone’s
expectations all month long.” Yet we see immediately that he is scanning the
room, looking for recognition; his solitude is fragile. His internal narrative
frames the woman as “the kind of woman who could bewitch me like a siren,” even
though his encounter is superficial and ill-fated. The sudden revelation at the
end, she can fix your diastema, undercuts his fantasy with ironic
precision. Lozano-Palacio (2019) argues that irony arises from “a clash between
an echoed scenario and an observed scenario,” producing evaluative tension (p.
102). Salgado orchestrates that clash expertly.
Irony, Reader, and
Interpretation in Latin American Short Fiction
In
Latin American short fiction, irony has been studied as a strategy that reveals
disjunctions of intention, identity, and desire. Adriaensen (2016) highlights
how irony “plays with the distance between two opposing senses and carries an
evaluative dimension” (The Politics of Irony in Contemporary Latin American
Literature on Violence). In “Diastema,” the narrator’s initial
triumphal posture (“I had to find out whether I’d be the cat that lost his life
to curiosity—or if she’d purr”) is deflated into a comedic, melancholic moment.
The story invites the reader to see the narrator’s self-delusion before he
does, engaging the reader’s interpretive role in the ironic dynamic. Salgado
thus situates his micro-narrative in a mode that is both realist in setting and
post-realist in its ironic register.
Conclusion
Through
the combined lenses of Lacanian psychoanalysis and ironic/realist literary
theory, Wilbert Salgado’s “Diastema” emerges as a multilayered
exploration of the gap between desire and recognition, projection and truth,
fantasy and quotidian reality. On the psychological level, the narrator’s
longing, his filling in of missing parts, his momentary recognition, and ultimate
solitude reflect Lacan’s teaching that desire is built around lack and will
always return to it. On the literary level, the realistic details of setting
and character mask a quietly ironic structure: the narrator’s fantasy of
connection dissolves into an ironic twist that reveals the self-absorption of
his gaze. The titular gap is both literal and symbolic: it signals the
narrator’s missing piece and his mistaken belief that another might complete
him. Wilbert Salgado’s story thus invites us to consider how we narrate our own
desire, how we interpret the other’s gaze, and how the most ordinary of nights
can reveal the most profound of psychic fissures.
📚 References
Adriaensen, B. (2016). The politics of irony
in contemporary Latin American literature on violence. Netherlands
Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). https://www.redvyral.com/projects/the-politics-of-irony-in-contemporary-latin-american-literature-on-violence
Lacan, J. (1988). The seminar of Jacques
Lacan, Book I (1953-1954): Freud’s papers on technique (J. Forrester, Ed.).
W. W. Norton.
Lacan, J. (2006). Écrits: A selection
(B. Fink, Trans.). W. W. Norton.
LacanOnline.com. (2020). What does Lacan say
about desire? https://www.lacanonline.com/2010/05/what-does-lacan-say-about-desire
Lozano-Palacio, I. (2019). Irony in linguistics
and literary theory: Towards a synthetic approach. Miscelánea: A Journal of
English and American Studies, 59, 95-115. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360105583_Irony_in_Linguistics_and_Literary_Theory_Towards_a_synthetic_approach
Salgado, W. (2024). Diastema.
[Unpublished short story].
Stasi, P. (Ed.). (2025). Realism and the
novel: A global history. Cambridge University Press.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2023). Jacques
Lacan. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lacan
Tel Journal. (2016). The study of desire: A
Lacanian perspective. https://www.teljournal.org/article_113137
Tittler, J. (1985). Narrative irony in the contemporary Spanish-American novel. Hispania, 68(4), 851-857. https://www.academia.edu/56843752/Narrative_Irony_in_the_Contemporary_Spanish_American_Novel
Short Story: "Diastema" by Wilbert Salgado
Reader's Handout for Salgado's Short Story: Diastema
