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Highly selective notes on Lacan
Dave Harris
[ I read Deleuze and Guattari before I read any
Lacan, and so this highly selective set of notes
relates to issues with Lacan as identified by
D&G. I am only a casual reader of Lacan and my
intention was solely to find out exactly what the
problems were with two basic arguments that offend
D&G:
- that the unconscious is
'structured like a language', in particular
that the 'subject is a signifier for other
signifiers';
- that language use
necessarily exposes us to a patriarchal and
hierarchical social order.
I have read Schreber's memoirs, his account of a
very well-developed paranoid delusion,variously
described as schizophrenia or dementia praecox. I
have not taken notes, of course, but chapter 15 on
miracles and talking birds is especially
impressive in showing the amazingly logical and
reasonable thinking of Schreber, based on mad
presuppositions, of course.. I have also read Zizek's defence of Lacan
against D&G,which, apart from anything else,
indicates, as usual, that citing a few extracts
can never be decisive in any dispute about what
the hell Lacan means -- or D&G for that
matter.
Here is what I have found so far]
Lacan, J (1993) (edited by J-A Miller) The
Psychoses. The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book
III 1955-56. Trans with notes Russell
Grigg. London: Routledge
Lacan J. (1993) Ecrits.
A Selection. Trans Alan Sheridan.London:
Routledge
Lacan J (1968)
[1953] The Language of the Self:
The Function of Language in Psychoanalysis.
Trans and with notes[and an essay] by
Anthony Wilden. Baltimore: The John Hopkins
Press.
I have also found useful a very
clear commentary
on Lacan by M Sharpe in the Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The seminars are
very usefully summarized on the site Lacan.com
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