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In his return to Freud, the early Lacan focussed on the symbolic and the imaginary. Reflecting mainly on the symbolic structure of the unconscious, the conversion symptoms and the (phallic) jouissance, his references to their real dimension are few and far between. From seminar XI (1964) onwards, though, the real - and more specifically the real of the drives - is given more attention. It is at this point, when elaborating the real dimension of jouissance, that the concept of the real of the body intervenes. With the real of the body, the accent lies on the cut and alienated relation between the subject and jouissance. At first, this polarisation of the subject and its body serves Lacan's aim of situating the exact place of jouissance. Amongst other things this will enable him to determine the role played by culture and society in the genesis of neuroses. Further, the concept of the real of body has to do with the crucial question of aetiology, since the real of the drives is the cornerstone of psychopathological symptoms. As such, Lacan's notion of the real of the body picks up again and develops the crucial concept of fixation, which Freud left unfinished.