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Lacan: Eine Einführung
Der Psychoanalytiker Jacques Lacan gilt als ein so einflussreicher wie schwieriger Denker. Der bekannte Kulturkritiker Slavoj Žižek hat sich daher die Aufgabe gestellt, Lacan einem breiteren Publikum zugänglich zu machen. Dies gelingt ihm, indem er die zentralen Begriffe anschaulich und amüsant mit Hilfe von bekannten Hollywood-Filmen erklärt. Eine Zeittafel sowie eine kommentierte Bibliographie zur weiterführenden Lektüre runden den Band ab.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 15, 2006
14 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
About the author
Slavoj Žižek
634 books7,697 followersSlavoj Žižek is a Slovene sociologist, philosopher, and cultural critic.
He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of SFR Yugoslavia). He received a Doctor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Ljubljana and studied psychoanalysis at the University of Paris VIII with Jacques-Alain Miller and François Regnault. In 1990 he was a candidate with the party Liberal Democracy of Slovenia for Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia (an auxiliary institution, abolished in 1992).
Since 2005, Žižek has been a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Žižek is well known for his use of the works of 20th century French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in a new reading of popular culture. He writes on many topics including the Iraq War, fundamentalism, capitalism, tolerance, political correctness, globalization, subjectivity, human rights, Lenin, myth, cyberspace, postmodernism, multiculturalism, post-marxism, David Lynch, and Alfred Hitchcock.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País he jokingly described himself as an "orthodox Lacanian Stalinist". In an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! he described himself as a "Marxist" and a "Communist."
He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of SFR Yugoslavia). He received a Doctor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Ljubljana and studied psychoanalysis at the University of Paris VIII with Jacques-Alain Miller and François Regnault. In 1990 he was a candidate with the party Liberal Democracy of Slovenia for Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia (an auxiliary institution, abolished in 1992).
Since 2005, Žižek has been a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Žižek is well known for his use of the works of 20th century French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in a new reading of popular culture. He writes on many topics including the Iraq War, fundamentalism, capitalism, tolerance, political correctness, globalization, subjectivity, human rights, Lenin, myth, cyberspace, postmodernism, multiculturalism, post-marxism, David Lynch, and Alfred Hitchcock.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País he jokingly described himself as an "orthodox Lacanian Stalinist". In an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! he described himself as a "Marxist" and a "Communist."
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 18, 2018
If you're interested in Lacan, do yourself a favor and open up this book to the first chapter and read Alain Badiou's essay on "Lacan and the Pre-Socratics." It's a masterpiece. After all, most people wouldn't think of the pre-Socratics as a key influence on Lacan, but through a careful reading Badiou shows how "the connections between love, hate, truth and knowledge were established by Empedocles and then radicalized by Heraclitus, the originary thinker of discord, of non-relation" (p.11).
Miran Božovič gives a superb reading of Diderot's Les Bijoux indiscrets - although what it has to do with Lacan is not exactly clear, since he is not mentioned once in the whole essay.
Adrian Johnston tries to ally Lacan with Schelling, another unlikely pairing. Unlike Badiou, he doesn't have the relevant textual support, and this connection feels overly circumstantial.
Timothy Huson brings together Lacan and Hegel, hardly a new combination, and while it's a decent reading, I felt like it was too optimistically synthetic in finding a "solution" to the dialectic of the subject.
Silvia Ons chooses Nietzsche as her consort, wrongly claiming that the two have not been compared before. I didn't find this chapter convincing.
Joan Copjec takes a leaf out of her earlier book Read My Desire: Lacan Against the Historicists by talking about Lacan and May 1968. She analyzes, in particular, the looming challenge of the university discourse to revolution, and the surprisingly positive role that shame can play in putting a reasonable limit on transgression. There were parts of this essay I really liked, but others that were so abstract I could barely follow them.
Bruno Bosteels has a long essay on Badiou that largely went over my head. I need to read more Badiou, clearly.
Alenka Zupančič has a chapter on comedy that is a rehash of the opening chapter of The Odd One In: On Comedy. I'm not impressed.
Robert Pfaller also addresses comedy in his chapter, with somewhat better results.
Slavoj Žižek contributes the next two chapters: the first is on the interplay between real and imaginary that starts off well and then gets lost, the second is a defense of Wagner, a topic in which I have almost zero interest.
The next four chapters are all literary readings: Sigi Jöttkandt on Turgenev's First Love, Žižek on Henry James, Mladen Dolar on Kafka, and Lorenzo Chiesa on Artaud.
The book closes with a chapter by Fredric Jameson. I am yet to see him write anything interesting about Lacan.
Lacan: The Silent Partners is not a perfect collection, but it does have some good stuff in here, with Badiou's opening essay being the clear highlight. It is also refreshing to read a collection that doesn't have the same boring disciples of Jacques-Alain Miller, but instead features a new generation of Lacanians who are far more daring and innovative than the ones who have come before.
Miran Božovič gives a superb reading of Diderot's Les Bijoux indiscrets - although what it has to do with Lacan is not exactly clear, since he is not mentioned once in the whole essay.
Adrian Johnston tries to ally Lacan with Schelling, another unlikely pairing. Unlike Badiou, he doesn't have the relevant textual support, and this connection feels overly circumstantial.
Timothy Huson brings together Lacan and Hegel, hardly a new combination, and while it's a decent reading, I felt like it was too optimistically synthetic in finding a "solution" to the dialectic of the subject.
Silvia Ons chooses Nietzsche as her consort, wrongly claiming that the two have not been compared before. I didn't find this chapter convincing.
Joan Copjec takes a leaf out of her earlier book Read My Desire: Lacan Against the Historicists by talking about Lacan and May 1968. She analyzes, in particular, the looming challenge of the university discourse to revolution, and the surprisingly positive role that shame can play in putting a reasonable limit on transgression. There were parts of this essay I really liked, but others that were so abstract I could barely follow them.
Bruno Bosteels has a long essay on Badiou that largely went over my head. I need to read more Badiou, clearly.
Alenka Zupančič has a chapter on comedy that is a rehash of the opening chapter of The Odd One In: On Comedy. I'm not impressed.
Robert Pfaller also addresses comedy in his chapter, with somewhat better results.
Slavoj Žižek contributes the next two chapters: the first is on the interplay between real and imaginary that starts off well and then gets lost, the second is a defense of Wagner, a topic in which I have almost zero interest.
The next four chapters are all literary readings: Sigi Jöttkandt on Turgenev's First Love, Žižek on Henry James, Mladen Dolar on Kafka, and Lorenzo Chiesa on Artaud.
The book closes with a chapter by Fredric Jameson. I am yet to see him write anything interesting about Lacan.
Lacan: The Silent Partners is not a perfect collection, but it does have some good stuff in here, with Badiou's opening essay being the clear highlight. It is also refreshing to read a collection that doesn't have the same boring disciples of Jacques-Alain Miller, but instead features a new generation of Lacanians who are far more daring and innovative than the ones who have come before.
January 8, 2023
Ein Buch, weniger über das Denken Lacans, als ein Einblick in die Ideenwelt Zizeks.
September 9, 2025
Zizektypisch etwas konfus, aber man lernt die Welt der Psychoanalyse Lacans kennen. Anfangs sowieso eine verwirrende Sache, aber umso erhellender nach Vollzug der Lernkurve.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews