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Jacques Lacan: The Death of an Intellectual Hero
Examines the theory of psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan, analyzes his writings on psychology, and discusses the development of his method of therapy.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 1, 2019
The only other time I came across Stuart Schneiderman was while reading Lacan's The Sinthome: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book XXIII. Schneiderman tries hopelessly to insert himself into the conversation by asking about Chomsky, but Lacan notes merely that his interlocutor is American and enters into a lament about how only Americans dare to ask him real questions anymore. Schneiderman repeats his query in more detail, finds himself totally ignored, and the seminar moves on without him getting a genuine reply.
My recent reading on the topic of Lacan has focused on authors who have actively - healthily - resisted his authority while still being able to acknowledge his value: Roustang, Turkle, Gallop, even Irigaray can be put in this camp. Schneiderman, on the other hand, is a guileless disciple through and through. A beta. A chump.
Jacques Lacan: The Death of an Intellectual Hero is little more than a love letter to the author's recently-deceased master. Schneiderman makes an attempt to explain Lacanian theory to the reader, but these parts of the book are tedious. It quickly becomes clear that these attempted elucidations are "empty speech": what Schneiderman really wants to do, like any neurotic with an unresolved transference, is to mourn the lost object of his love by talking obsessively about him.
Because Schneiderman was actually there - he moved to Paris in 1973 to become a follower of Lacan - he does give some interesting historical insights into what life was like at the École freudienne. His explanation in Chapters 4 and 5 of the system of the "pass," for instance, which was the technique used to promote analysts to the position of Teaching Analyst, is interesting, especially for the way he avoids addressing just how controversial this practice actually was (see Turkle pp.123-129 for a very different take on this procedure). So too are his ruminations in Chapter 7 of his personal experience of being analyzed by Lacan, and his explanation of the benefits of the notorious "short sessions" that Lacan pioneered.
As the incident from Seminar XXIII mentioned above demonstrates, Lacan clearly had no genuine respect for Schneiderman. He bullies and belittles him, and Schneiderman, like a good little disciple, endures this abuse and rationalizes it all. He explains away Lacan's greed, his rudeness, his infidelities, his dishonesty, his tyranny, all with the wide-eyed innocence of a genuine sucker.
This whitewashing culminates with the ludicrous conclusion Schneiderman draws from an incident that happened during World War II, in which Lacan badgered the Gestapo to give up the file on his Jewish wife, Sylvie Bataille. "If it is true that we can tell a great deal about the character of a man by how he acts in situations of crisis, then we should recognize Lacan as a man whose personal ethical conduct was unimpeachable," affirms Schneiderman breathlessly, adding a little further on: "Lacan exhibited the kind of strength of character necessary for ethical heroism. When he faced down the Gestapo, when he stood by his wife and acted decisively on her behalf, he was honoring a commitment and following one his basic principles: to keep one's word" (pp.164-165). Lacan was many things, but he was not an ethical hero in the way he lived his life.
Schneiderman's feeble attempt at an intellectual portrait of Lacan was subsequently eclipsed, ten years later, by the publication Élisabeth Roudinesco's magisterial Jacques Lacan: An Outline of a Life and a History of a System of Thought. Like Schneiderman, Roudinesco has an enormous, unresolved crush on Lacan, but unlike him she has the sense both to try to account for that transference and face up to the many unsavory aspects of Lacan's life and character.
Schneiderman's book, ultimately, is an embarrassment - yet it is also a useful object lesson in the dangers of being an uncritical disciple, the very thing that psychoanalysis is supposed to teach you how to avoid.
My recent reading on the topic of Lacan has focused on authors who have actively - healthily - resisted his authority while still being able to acknowledge his value: Roustang, Turkle, Gallop, even Irigaray can be put in this camp. Schneiderman, on the other hand, is a guileless disciple through and through. A beta. A chump.
Jacques Lacan: The Death of an Intellectual Hero is little more than a love letter to the author's recently-deceased master. Schneiderman makes an attempt to explain Lacanian theory to the reader, but these parts of the book are tedious. It quickly becomes clear that these attempted elucidations are "empty speech": what Schneiderman really wants to do, like any neurotic with an unresolved transference, is to mourn the lost object of his love by talking obsessively about him.
Because Schneiderman was actually there - he moved to Paris in 1973 to become a follower of Lacan - he does give some interesting historical insights into what life was like at the École freudienne. His explanation in Chapters 4 and 5 of the system of the "pass," for instance, which was the technique used to promote analysts to the position of Teaching Analyst, is interesting, especially for the way he avoids addressing just how controversial this practice actually was (see Turkle pp.123-129 for a very different take on this procedure). So too are his ruminations in Chapter 7 of his personal experience of being analyzed by Lacan, and his explanation of the benefits of the notorious "short sessions" that Lacan pioneered.
As the incident from Seminar XXIII mentioned above demonstrates, Lacan clearly had no genuine respect for Schneiderman. He bullies and belittles him, and Schneiderman, like a good little disciple, endures this abuse and rationalizes it all. He explains away Lacan's greed, his rudeness, his infidelities, his dishonesty, his tyranny, all with the wide-eyed innocence of a genuine sucker.
This whitewashing culminates with the ludicrous conclusion Schneiderman draws from an incident that happened during World War II, in which Lacan badgered the Gestapo to give up the file on his Jewish wife, Sylvie Bataille. "If it is true that we can tell a great deal about the character of a man by how he acts in situations of crisis, then we should recognize Lacan as a man whose personal ethical conduct was unimpeachable," affirms Schneiderman breathlessly, adding a little further on: "Lacan exhibited the kind of strength of character necessary for ethical heroism. When he faced down the Gestapo, when he stood by his wife and acted decisively on her behalf, he was honoring a commitment and following one his basic principles: to keep one's word" (pp.164-165). Lacan was many things, but he was not an ethical hero in the way he lived his life.
Schneiderman's feeble attempt at an intellectual portrait of Lacan was subsequently eclipsed, ten years later, by the publication Élisabeth Roudinesco's magisterial Jacques Lacan: An Outline of a Life and a History of a System of Thought. Like Schneiderman, Roudinesco has an enormous, unresolved crush on Lacan, but unlike him she has the sense both to try to account for that transference and face up to the many unsavory aspects of Lacan's life and character.
Schneiderman's book, ultimately, is an embarrassment - yet it is also a useful object lesson in the dangers of being an uncritical disciple, the very thing that psychoanalysis is supposed to teach you how to avoid.
September 3, 2015
Didn't really read this, but skimmed parts and was appalled by the first chapter. (I think the later parts may be better.)
November 21, 2014
This is the first book, not about gardening, that I've finished in a long while.
Very provocative discussion of what it means to become a psychoanalyst in the Lacanian tradition by someone who went through it.
Very provocative discussion of what it means to become a psychoanalyst in the Lacanian tradition by someone who went through it.
January 11, 2022
Pierwszy raz czytałam o filozofii z pełnym zrozumieniem, a przy okazji dostałam świetny kontekst historyczny i mnóstwo anegdotek.
March 21, 2012
One guy I briefly met in the Strand NYC book store recommended this to me since I was interested in getting an introduction to Lacan's thought. I'll say I was little disappointed with the book since it was pretty light on explaining Lacanian concepts. This is more of an intellectual biography than anything else. It has some pretty interesting biographical info since the author himself did his training analysis with Lacan. That alone makes it a pretty interesting read even if the author didn't talk about Lacan's thought a little more clearly and systematically. I know that maybe asking a little too much though since Lacan was anything BUT clear and systematic. However, I've heard Bruce Fink's works help ease one into the thought of Lacan without the Lacanian style blocking all comprehension. And so that is who I will be turning to next when I feel like getting a better grasp on Lacan. I'd recommend the same to anyone else seeking to penetrate Lacan's thought.
April 15, 2010
A wonderfully witty biography of the Minotaur himself, Le Grand Jacques... I read this long ago, back in my Lost Youth--- my first introduction to Lacan, really. It's not the most in-depth or scholarly bio of Lacan, but it's a delightful introduction, with just the right sense of mischief.
June 26, 2007
kind of whatevs. most of the english books about lacan in the 80s are pretty weeeeeeeeeeeak.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews