Jacques Lacan: The Death of an Intellectual Hero

By Stuart Schneiderman

Book Overview

Revised

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674471164
• ISBN13: 9780674471160
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

This book's oodles better than anything Lacan wrote

I've read Lacan. Unlike a lot of the post-structuralists who are pure gibberish (e.g. Derrida), he has his moments - notably the mirror stage, notions of Hegelian Other applied to analysis, and his conception of the language of the unconscious. Good luck finding them, though. He was one of the worst writers in all of human history. I've read Hegel's Phenomenology and Heidegger, so I'm not exactly inexperienced with dense writing of the Continental variety, either. It doesn't end there either - to boot, several of his lectures and writings are either nonsensical (including my favorite explanation of all time in "the signification of the phallus" - the phallus passes over the signifier, whatever that means) or demonstrate a very poor knowledge of geometry or other things outside his field (which famously led to caricature in the whole Sokal affair). The Borromean knot and later use of the torus are particularly egregious examples of that. The author of this book, apart from a demonstrated ignorance of set theory, doesn't write like Lacan or other acolytes like Judy Butler, et al, though. He is fairly even handed and mentions criticism of the excessive theory surrounding this concept that many Lacanians deem sacrosanct. This review isn't about Lacan though, it's about this book. The author manages to mention all the most interesting aspects of the drama in the French academy during Lacan's life and summarize the salient points Lacan makes in his often obscure works. He also talks about the short session and something I thought was very interesting called "the pass" - the training exam for Lacanian analysts. He writes in a lively, energetic style and I honestly couldn't put the book down. I took off a star because of the fact the author's love for Lacan is a tad trying at times - for instance he compares him to a zen master and a god. He also overlooks some pretty obvious criticism of specific areas of Lacan's work (the above mentioned phallus/signifier passage comes to mind). I'd say to - crib a term from Freud - there was more than a little transference going on. If you're at all interested in Lacan's thought sans Lacan's terrible writing, this is probably the best place to find it - the author effortlessly summarizes Lacanian jargon and put everything in context. Even if you don't buy into Lacan or the post-structuralists (and to be honest, I don't buy into a good portion of it), this is still a really enjoyable read (especially if you're in education or academia) because of the descriptions of all the wild personalities involved and the notorious catfights in the French academy. Case in point: There's an anecdote about Deleuze & Guattari sending one of their wives because they were afraid of direct criticism to see if Lacan responded to Anti-Oedipus (a book written as a response to him) at his seminar.