From unedited French manuscripts.
Jacques Lacan Books
April 13, 1901 – September 9, 1981
Jacques Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made significant contributions to the psychoanalytic movement. His ideas centered on Freudian concepts like the unconscious, the castration complex, and the ego, emphasizing the centrality of language to subjectivity. His work was interdisciplinary, drawing on linguistics, philosophy, and mathematics. Though a controversial figure, Lacan's work is widely studied in critical theory, literary studies, and twentieth-century French philosophy, as well as in the practice of clinical psychoanalysis.
Exploring the intersection of psychoanalysis and contemporary society, this new translation of Jacques Lacan's work provides insightful analysis of Freud, Marx, and Hegel. It delves into social and sexual behavior patterns while examining the role of science and knowledge today. This accessible edition invites readers to engage with Lacan's profound ideas, making complex concepts more understandable for a modern audience.
From unedited French manuscripts.
Desire and its Interpretation
- 464 pages
- 17 hours of reading
The Object Relation
- 336 pages
- 12 hours of reading
The Seminar of Jacques Lacan
- 240 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Revolutionary and innovative, Lacan's work lies at the epicenter of modern thought about otherness, subjectivity, sexual difference, and enjoyment.
Formations of the Unconscious
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis
- 304 pages
- 11 hours of reading
This volume is based on a year's seminar in which Dr. Lacan addressed a larger, less specialized audience than ever before, among whom he could not assume familiarity with his work. For his listeners then, and for his readers now, he wanted to "introduce a certain coherence into the major concepts on which psycho-analysis is based," namely, the unconscious, repetition, the transference, and the drive. Along the way he argues for a structural affinity between psychoanalysis and language, discusses the relation of psychoanalysis to religion, and reveals his particular stance on topics ranging from sexuality and death to alienation and repression. This book constitutes the essence of Dr. Lacan's sensibility.
The unfulfilled mother, central to the child's ascent in narcissism, embodies a real presence in search of what she can consume. The child, once finding solace in her, may now face the danger of being devoured, a theme echoed in our fantasies and illustrated through the fears of Little Hans. This exploration reveals the intricate connections between phobia and perversion, suggesting that one may interpret these dynamics more insightfully than Freud himself. Castration relates equally to both mother and father, as seen in the primordial situation where maternal castration introduces the child to the threats of devoration and biting. In this context, paternal castration serves merely as a substitute for the deeper maternal implications. In Little Hans's case, a pivotal transformation occurs: the shift from the act of biting to the act of unscrewing the bathtub. This change signifies a crucial difference in the dynamics between the child and the mother. The fear of biting the mother and the horse's biting becomes distinct from the act of unscrewing, which involves the mother as an active participant in the child's exploration. This transformation marks her integration into the child's broader system, highlighting her role as a mobile and equivalent element within it.
Jacques Lacan is arguably the most controversial psychoanalyst of our time.
