Lacan

by Malcolm Bowie

The French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) is a uniquely complex writer and the originator of an especially unsettling view of the human subject. But the singularity of Lacan's achievement has been understated by many of his critics. Often he is seen merely as a figure famous for being famous--an essential reference point in structuralist and poststructuralist debate--rather than as a theorist whose writings demand and reward detailed scrutiny.

Malcolm Bowie traces the development of Lacan's ideas over the fifty-year span of his writing and teaching career. The primary focus is on the fascinating mutations in Lacan's interpretation of Freud. Bowie reinserts the celebrated slogans--"The unconscious is the discourse of the Other," "The unconscious is structured like a language," and so forth--into the history of Lacan's thinking, and pinpoints the paradoxes and anomalies that mark his account of human sexuality. This book provides a firm basis for the critical evaluation of Lacan's ideas and the rhetoric in which they are embedded; it is based on a close reading of Lacan's original texts but presupposes no knowledge of French in the reader.

Although Bowie is sharply critical of Lacan on several major analytic questions, he argues that Lacan is the only psychoanalyst after Freud whose intellectual achievement is seriously comparable to Freud's own. Lacan provides the ideal starting point for any exploration of the work of this formidable thinker.

Genres: Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Theory, Nonfiction, Biography

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful guide to Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theories. In addition to discussing the categories of the Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real, and the relation of metonymy and metaphor to desire and the symptom, Bowie employs Lacan’s theories to determine what time it is in the unconscious—something that I have not seen other commentators attempt in their works on Lacanian thought.

[Peter Mathews · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Malcolm Bowie provides yet another "Lacan for beginners" text that was obviously popular at the time. Bowie is well-equipped to undertake such a task, with a vast knowledge of the material and a writing style that is generally easy enough to follow (although I suspect readers who are entirely new to Lacan will still find it a challenge).

Bowie's book has a bit more of a historical sense than some other books of this kind. As such, he opens with a chapter on the complex relationship between Freud and Lacan, observing cannily that "Lacan's argument is conducted on Freud's behalf and, at the same time, against him" (p.7).

The rest of the book is organized into a kind of "greatest hits" of Lacanian concepts, starting with an explanation of Lacan's notion of the divided subject (Ch.2). Bowie moves from there to the relationship between language and the unconscious (Ch.3), the development of Lacan's three registers of the real, symbolic, and imaginary (Ch.4), an explanation of the symbolic phallus (Ch.5), and an overview of how Lacan's final years were spent exploring mathemes, knots and other more obscure theoretical concepts (Ch.5).

Bowie's book is a solid but unremarkable introduction to Lacan. It is readable and goes over the basic concepts, although in terms of theoretical scope I would probably recommend Joël Dor's Introduction to the Reading of Lacan: The Unconscious Structured Like a Language ahead of this one.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good + largely accessible overview of Lacan’s theoretical corpus. You can tell Bowie is deeply enamored with his subject (à la Olivia Nuzzi), which does yield some purplish prose, but I have to tip my hat at the attempt to replicate Lacan’s mystagogue register—something many others have tried, and to much less success. Besides, the mimesis did in fact help me understand the motive force of the Lacanian project more clearly, which is what I needed before diving into Écrits.

[Gabriel Rutherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I understand Lacan more having read this, which is always good for a book where the aim is to tell you what Lacanian thought is.
I suppose the struggle to actually understand Lacan, in an appropriately metatextual twist, is perfectly symbolic of Lacan's message about the tragedy of human desire being that you can't ever really fulfil it.

[Quinn Monette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supports its thesis of Lacan's necessary incomprehensibility in word and deed. I can guess who the parting shot at a certain unnamed Lacanian is directed towards

[Yahya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filozof Malcom Bowie bu kitabında Lacan'ın psikanaliz kuramına önemli noktalarına değiniyor.Önceki benzer kitapların aksine bu kitap, Lacan'ın hayatını göz ardı edip tamamen kuramın önemli ana başlıklarını anlaşılır kılmaya ve bunun genel psikanalizdeki önemine değiniyor. Bunu yaparken de tamamen Lacan'ın Freud'a dönüşünü pas geçmiyor. Her bölümde mutlaka Freud'un temel teorisine atıfta bulunup Lacan'ın bunu nasıl yorumladığı veya nasıl geliştirdiğini ele alıyor. Günümüzde Lacan psikanaliziyle kendini özdeşleştirenlerin aksine Lacan'ın kendisi kendisini Freud'çu olarak adlandırıyor. Bu da bize şunu gösteriyor; Lacan'ı bilmek için Freud' bilmek şart. Tabii Freud'u bilmek de yetmiyor anlamak için orası ayrı bir konu.

"Lacan'ın şimdiye kadar tercih etmiş olduğu bakış açısı, resmin orta yerine eksikliği ve yasağı yerleştirip dürtüleri onun etrafında döndürmektedir. Tekil olarak düşünülürse veya düşünüldüğünde her dürtü imkânsızlığın izini taşır: Her biri doygunluk noktasını arayan ve bulamayan arzudur. Bu noktayı bulmayı başaramayınca kendini yok etmeye uğraşır ya da kısmen uğraşır: Her dürtü gerçekte bir ölüm dürtüsüdür."

"Lacan'a göre, gelecekteki bir felaketi hayal etmek, fiziki nesneye ya da psikolojik kurama yaklaşan parçalanmayı hatırlatmak gereksizdir, çünkü arzunun nesnelerinden felaketli kopuşu zaten çoktan gerçekleşmiştir. İnsan varlığının dile ve kültüre girebilmek için farkında olmadan ödediği bedeldir bu. İnsan zihninin her ürünü kendi ölümünün kuru kafa işaretini taşır zaten; yitmek, eksilmek, yetmemek, geri kalmak ve vakti geçmek onların doğal ihtisasıdır. İstek tatmin edilebilir; arzu tatmin edilemez: O doyumsuzdur, nesneleri sürekli firardadır."

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid intro to some of the most important Lacanian concepts, though I felt it still to be jargony and a bit unclear at times. Definitely still worth a read, but I would probably recommend reading Bruce Fink's "The Lacanian Subject" if you are completely new to Lacanian theory before reading this.

[M.S.Cem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitap psikanalizle alakasi olmayan birisi için çok agir.
Ben bile konuya agina olmama ragmen okumakta ve anlamakta çok zorlandim. Ama Lacan'in dili böyle.
Genel olarak begendim,Lacan'in kendi metinlerine kiyasla daha iyi bir baglangiç metni. Ama fazla agir ve karmagik.
3/5

[Mina-Louise]

This was a decent overview. Finished a while ago on a plane and forgot to review. Now I can't remember anything worthwhile about it.