In Rothenberg's 'The Excessive Subject' it means the aspects of a person (or a thing or event) that are revealed at later stages and make us re-assess causes and motivations. Rothenberg's example: “Carl smiled as he gently stroked the skin of his lover with the keen edge of a knife.” The last five words of the sentence determine what we think of Carl and how we interpret the scene. 'Excess' suggests spillage, as if a glass has been over-filled and we are now seeing the contents over-running and revealing themselves in a new context. 'Excess' is also connected with 'extimacy', the inner lives that are revealed to others and displayed on the outside (Lacan) . Magritte's L'Homme au Journal can be used as an illustration pre-dating the theory. We are invited to interpret the first panel as a room in which there will be or was no man reading a newspaper - not just an empty room but a room emptied of a specific person - the 'excess' in this case is the whole subject, the man himself.
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