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Lacan: The Absolute Master
. 1991, bright clean copy, no markings, Professional booksellers since 1981
293 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1991
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About the author
Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen
26 books11 followersMikkel Borch-Jacobsen (born 1951), is Professor of Comparative Literature and French at the University of Washington in Seattle. Born to Danish parents, he began his studies in France, where he studied philosophy with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy, two philosophers close in thought to, and in dialogue with, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan.
In 1981 at the University of Strasbourg he submitted his doctoral dissertation on The Freudian Subject and then began teaching in the department of Psychoanalysis at Vincennes University in Paris, where Jacques Lacan had first made his mark.
He is the author of many works on the history and philosophy of psychiatry, psychoanalysis and hypnosis. His constructivist analysis of the co-production of psychical "facts" emphasises the accuracy of historical accounts of mental disorders. He is known for his positions in virulent debates about psychoanalysis – called the Freud Wars – especially with regard to his 2005 publication of Le Livre noir de la psychanalyse ("The Black Book of Psychoanalysis"). In a review entitled Folies à plusieurs. De l'hystérie à la dépression ("Many madnesses. From hysteria to depression"), Pierre-Henri Castel calls Borch-Jacobsen "one of the most polemic thinkers with regard to the Freud Wars".
In 1981 at the University of Strasbourg he submitted his doctoral dissertation on The Freudian Subject and then began teaching in the department of Psychoanalysis at Vincennes University in Paris, where Jacques Lacan had first made his mark.
He is the author of many works on the history and philosophy of psychiatry, psychoanalysis and hypnosis. His constructivist analysis of the co-production of psychical "facts" emphasises the accuracy of historical accounts of mental disorders. He is known for his positions in virulent debates about psychoanalysis – called the Freud Wars – especially with regard to his 2005 publication of Le Livre noir de la psychanalyse ("The Black Book of Psychoanalysis"). In a review entitled Folies à plusieurs. De l'hystérie à la dépression ("Many madnesses. From hysteria to depression"), Pierre-Henri Castel calls Borch-Jacobsen "one of the most polemic thinkers with regard to the Freud Wars".
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 27, 2019
Was completely unaware of Kojeve and his influence on French thinkers before this book so that was probably the most valuable aspect for me in reading this. Enlightening in some places and obtuse in others, I think Borch-Jascobson probably hits his stride somewhere just after the middle chapters and then loses his way a bit in the final chapters. The work as a whole seems like it is missing an overarching theme that ties everything together. If it is supposed to be centered on the master/slave dialectic and that Lacan is trying to pose himself as the master (or conscious shaman) I didn't feel like the author made this theme explicit enough throughout the work and especially while trying to wrap up the ending. Nevertheless, a worthwhile read if you are interested in Lacan and want to have a deeper understanding of his work.
May 23, 2018
When you open up Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen's book you will notice that the first section is titled "In Place of an Introduction" - an allusion to Alexandre Kojève's Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit, which opens with a commentary on Hegel's master/slave dialectic under the same title. Borch-Jacobsen's central argument is that Kojève is the most important intellectual influence on Jacques Lacan, even more than Freud or Saussure, a point he outlines in some detail in this ersatz introduction.
In Chapter 1, Borch-Jacobsen extends this argument by contending that Lacan is only selectively Freudian. "What, in fact does Lacan retain of Freud?" he asks. "Roughly speaking, everything concerned with the 'analysis of the ego'" (p.28). Everything else in Lacan's work is largely derived from a Hegelian/Kojèvian reading of Freudian concepts through the master/slave dialectic, with Borch-Jacobsen giving particular attention to Lacan's interpretation of the Oedipus complex and Totem and Taboo.
Chapter 2 also appropriates the mirror stage to this kind of reading, establishing a dialectic between ego and Other. However, Borch-Jacobsen also notes the way in which Lacan privileges the visual domain of the imaginary in his work, and as such he describes the key moments of the ego as a series of "poses" or "statues": "The 'ego-world' is a statue: as hard as stone, as cold as ice, it is *standing in front of* the ego that is petrified there - that is, in the ego-world, it both gazes at and petrifies itself" (p.60).
Chapter 3 explains the psychoanalytic theory of the transference, and how the analyst is supposed to behave like a mirror in order to allow the subject to re-align their subjectivity. Borch-Jacobsen shows how Lacan's Hegelianism leads him to contradict this theory: the subject is *never* truly in alignment with his/her self-image. The dialectic of the transference can thus only be interminable, since there is no genuine resolution.
Chapter 4 shows how the impasse at which Lacan arrives in the previous chapter requires a drastic rethinking of the relationship between truth and fiction. Since the subject can never be aligned with its "true" self, it can only confront a lie, a false image. Nonetheless, the structure of a fiction, in which a subject can see through its falseness and deception, opens the single possible of truth.
Chapter 5 examines the contradiction allows Lacan to deconstruct psychoanalysis and yet continue to practice it. Lacan, Borch-Jacobsen argues, never doubts the overall mission of psychoanalysis, implying that Lacan is a master manipulator who uses his power to further the Freudian project. Drawing from the work of Lévi-Strauss, he further claims that Lacan is a "*shaman conscious of being a shaman*" (p.161), whose insidious task is to transform everyone from an analysand into an analyst, so that eventually the world will be full of like-minded people who share in the delusion of psychoanalysis.
As far as I am concerned, Chapter 5 is the culmination of Borch-Jacobsen's argument, which should probably have ended there. Nonetheless, there are two further chapters, one on Lacan's use of linguistics (Ch.6) and another on the concept of the phallus (Ch.7), which make some interesting but relatively minor points.
Lacan: The Absolute Master is a book that should have been a game-changer in the area of Lacan studies, but suffers in a couple of respects. Its biggest failing lies in its central argument that Kojève is the most crucial influence on Lacan. Certainly Borch-Jacobsen makes a case for reconsidering his importance, but on the whole this approach seems too reductive - where, for instance, are the equally critical contributions of the surrealists to Lacan's theories? Secondly, I think Borch-Jacobsen is too negative about the consequences of Lacanian thought - yes, Lacan was, in real life, an absolute master and a practical tyrant, but his ideas, like Hegel's, also provide us with the tools to escape that tyranny.
In Chapter 1, Borch-Jacobsen extends this argument by contending that Lacan is only selectively Freudian. "What, in fact does Lacan retain of Freud?" he asks. "Roughly speaking, everything concerned with the 'analysis of the ego'" (p.28). Everything else in Lacan's work is largely derived from a Hegelian/Kojèvian reading of Freudian concepts through the master/slave dialectic, with Borch-Jacobsen giving particular attention to Lacan's interpretation of the Oedipus complex and Totem and Taboo.
Chapter 2 also appropriates the mirror stage to this kind of reading, establishing a dialectic between ego and Other. However, Borch-Jacobsen also notes the way in which Lacan privileges the visual domain of the imaginary in his work, and as such he describes the key moments of the ego as a series of "poses" or "statues": "The 'ego-world' is a statue: as hard as stone, as cold as ice, it is *standing in front of* the ego that is petrified there - that is, in the ego-world, it both gazes at and petrifies itself" (p.60).
Chapter 3 explains the psychoanalytic theory of the transference, and how the analyst is supposed to behave like a mirror in order to allow the subject to re-align their subjectivity. Borch-Jacobsen shows how Lacan's Hegelianism leads him to contradict this theory: the subject is *never* truly in alignment with his/her self-image. The dialectic of the transference can thus only be interminable, since there is no genuine resolution.
Chapter 4 shows how the impasse at which Lacan arrives in the previous chapter requires a drastic rethinking of the relationship between truth and fiction. Since the subject can never be aligned with its "true" self, it can only confront a lie, a false image. Nonetheless, the structure of a fiction, in which a subject can see through its falseness and deception, opens the single possible of truth.
Chapter 5 examines the contradiction allows Lacan to deconstruct psychoanalysis and yet continue to practice it. Lacan, Borch-Jacobsen argues, never doubts the overall mission of psychoanalysis, implying that Lacan is a master manipulator who uses his power to further the Freudian project. Drawing from the work of Lévi-Strauss, he further claims that Lacan is a "*shaman conscious of being a shaman*" (p.161), whose insidious task is to transform everyone from an analysand into an analyst, so that eventually the world will be full of like-minded people who share in the delusion of psychoanalysis.
As far as I am concerned, Chapter 5 is the culmination of Borch-Jacobsen's argument, which should probably have ended there. Nonetheless, there are two further chapters, one on Lacan's use of linguistics (Ch.6) and another on the concept of the phallus (Ch.7), which make some interesting but relatively minor points.
Lacan: The Absolute Master is a book that should have been a game-changer in the area of Lacan studies, but suffers in a couple of respects. Its biggest failing lies in its central argument that Kojève is the most crucial influence on Lacan. Certainly Borch-Jacobsen makes a case for reconsidering his importance, but on the whole this approach seems too reductive - where, for instance, are the equally critical contributions of the surrealists to Lacan's theories? Secondly, I think Borch-Jacobsen is too negative about the consequences of Lacanian thought - yes, Lacan was, in real life, an absolute master and a practical tyrant, but his ideas, like Hegel's, also provide us with the tools to escape that tyranny.
November 17, 2022
(Didn’t read the last 100 pages) You know what they say about these books about Lacan that dont talk about, you know, psychoanalysis? They’re not great
August 11, 2013
This is without doubt the single most important book every written about Lacan. It clarifies the origins and foundations of Lacanian thought in ways that no other contemporary writer even begins to approach.
Even his best advocates describe Lacan's writing style as "baroque." If ever you need to read a book that decodes Lacan so you can see his sources in the (often dubious) Hegel interpretations of Lacan's teacher, Alexandre Kojève, as well as in equally dubious scribblings of Sartre (whom Derrida rightly dismissed as "nefarious and catastrophic", see "Points*," p121-122) then this is it.
The approach that Borch-Jacobsen takes is very much a Foucauldian one to psychoanalysis as a way of punitively enforcing a moral code "in the name of the father" against "perversions" such a homosexuality—a subject true to Lacan's heart. Make sure you read this if you are serious about figuring about Lacan.
*Derrida: Points my link text
Even his best advocates describe Lacan's writing style as "baroque." If ever you need to read a book that decodes Lacan so you can see his sources in the (often dubious) Hegel interpretations of Lacan's teacher, Alexandre Kojève, as well as in equally dubious scribblings of Sartre (whom Derrida rightly dismissed as "nefarious and catastrophic", see "Points*," p121-122) then this is it.
The approach that Borch-Jacobsen takes is very much a Foucauldian one to psychoanalysis as a way of punitively enforcing a moral code "in the name of the father" against "perversions" such a homosexuality—a subject true to Lacan's heart. Make sure you read this if you are serious about figuring about Lacan.
*Derrida: Points my link text
January 22, 2008
Written by the most brilliant French professor I've ever had. Psychoanalysis anyone?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews