Difference between revisions of "Works by Jacques Lacan"
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Lacan only published one book in his lifetime - ''Écrits'' (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1966), and oversaw the editing of the first of his seminars - ''Le Séminaire de Jacques Lacan, Livre XI: Les quatre concepts fondamentaux de la psychanalyse'' (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1973). The English translation, ''Écrits: A Selection'' by Alan Sheridan (London: Tavistock Publications, 1977) contains key texts such as "The Mirror Stage", "The Rome Discourse," "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious," "The Meaning of the Phallus" and "The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire," but it still only consists of one-third of the French edition. | Lacan only published one book in his lifetime - ''Écrits'' (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1966), and oversaw the editing of the first of his seminars - ''Le Séminaire de Jacques Lacan, Livre XI: Les quatre concepts fondamentaux de la psychanalyse'' (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1973). The English translation, ''Écrits: A Selection'' by Alan Sheridan (London: Tavistock Publications, 1977) contains key texts such as "The Mirror Stage", "The Rome Discourse," "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious," "The Meaning of the Phallus" and "The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire," but it still only consists of one-third of the French edition. | ||
Lacan was 65 years old when he published ''Écrits'' and it is not an introductory text but the summation of a lifetime's teaching and clinical practice. Each paper contains a multiplicity of allusions and references that need to be unpacked, if we are to begin understanding Lacan's ideas. | Lacan was 65 years old when he published ''Écrits'' and it is not an introductory text but the summation of a lifetime's teaching and clinical practice. Each paper contains a multiplicity of allusions and references that need to be unpacked, if we are to begin understanding Lacan's ideas. | ||
| − | "The Mirror Stage," for example, is only seven pages long, while " | + | "The Mirror Stage," for example, is only seven pages long, while "The Signification of the Phallus" is just nine, but each of these papers has generated volumes of explication, critique and applications. |
Revision as of 19:22, 17 May 2006
Lacan only published one book in his lifetime - Écrits (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1966), and oversaw the editing of the first of his seminars - Le Séminaire de Jacques Lacan, Livre XI: Les quatre concepts fondamentaux de la psychanalyse (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1973). The English translation, Écrits: A Selection by Alan Sheridan (London: Tavistock Publications, 1977) contains key texts such as "The Mirror Stage", "The Rome Discourse," "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious," "The Meaning of the Phallus" and "The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire," but it still only consists of one-third of the French edition.
Lacan was 65 years old when he published Écrits and it is not an introductory text but the summation of a lifetime's teaching and clinical practice. Each paper contains a multiplicity of allusions and references that need to be unpacked, if we are to begin understanding Lacan's ideas.
"The Mirror Stage," for example, is only seven pages long, while "The Signification of the Phallus" is just nine, but each of these papers has generated volumes of explication, critique and applications.
Seminars
Each seminar contains approximately 25 presentations from the fortnightly seminar. While each presentation is supposed to pick up and follow on from the week before, the connections can often be tenuous. Unlike the Écrits, the seminars are not difficult to read, but it can still be hard to follow the train of associations and links that Lacan makes. Usually, though, in a performative flourish LAcan will pull the whole presentation together in the final moments and provide a startlingly clear and understandable formulation of what he has been talking about.
