Jacques Lacan’s visit to Lebanon 1973 took place two months after the drama of the loss of his daughter Caroline in a car accident. Adnan Houbballah, one of the pioneers of Lebanese psychoanalysis organized this journey which included archeological visits, discoveries, moments of leisure and meetings with politicians, philosophers and literary figures. It also afforded insights into the man, the moaner, his whimsical side, the tourist and, of course, the friend, the curious and determined aspects of his personality, the thinker, and the theoretician of 72 years of age who had already elaborated the essential aspects of his thought. In parallel, a debate with intellectuals and mental health specialists in Lebanon gave rise to exchanges which summed up his hypotheses on language, affect, woman, psychosomatics and psychiatry.

The encounter with a millenial-old Lebanon gave rise to singular reflections between Lacan and the Lebanese analyst, reflections that the authors of this article attempt to reproduce.