Eileen Simpson in The Yale Review:
That Dr. Lacan, who was said to be contemptuous of Americans, might refuse to see me was not at all unlikely. So it was with a flutter of nervousness that I dialed his number. When he, himself, answered the phone, I was thrown off guard. Quickly—too quickly—I explained why I was calling and asked if he would grant me a few minutes of his time. If all I wanted was “a few minutes,” he said testily, I could not possibly be serious about my investigation. Was my interest so superficial that I thought a few minutes would suffice? Did I know who he was?
It occurred to me that as I had heard the gossip about him, he had also heard that I was going the rounds, and was nettled that I had waited so long to contact him. My phrase had been ill-chosen, I admitted, since what I really wanted was as much time as he could give me. I was living around the corner on the rue de l’Université (not in Paris on the run), this project my sole occupation. Mollified, he said that while he had no time during the next ten days, he would be free in two weeks. He would receive me at home, for lunch, early enough to give us time to talk before he had to leave for an afternoon class.
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