I first encountered Lacan in the context of literary theory. It shouldn’t be too surprising that Lacan was of interest to literary theorists as he had a great deal to say about the linguistic and psychological nature of utterances, signifier, signified and the communication of ideas. And yet, his ability to communicate his ideas seems encumbered. Even his audience of psychiatrists were often confused. This book is a transcription of a series of lectures Lacan gave and includes some of the post-lecture Q&A sessions. This exchange did a decent job of summing up Lacan’s communication:
Lacan: Have I thrown some light on your question?
J.-A. Miller: Some light and some shadow.
I had picked this book up because Slavoj Žižek made a great deal of reference to Lacan in his In Defense of Lost Causes, but I didn’t really feel like I gained much elucidation from reading Lacan.
Leave a Reply