Desire and its Interpretation: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book VI

the seminar/ book 6 is arranged textually in chapters with headings and sub-titles, divided in parts. originally, this seminar was a series of classroom lectures on psychoanalysis, conducted by lacan, from november 12, 1958 to july 1, 1959. elizabeth roudinesco notes in her biography Lacan on the sixth book as the ‘J.L. version, Notes by J.La. , incomplete recording, and the final three sessions were translated by James Hulbert as “Desire and the interpretation of Desire in Hamlet,” Yale French Studies 55/56 (1977): 11-52.’lacan’s preoccupying question in the seminar entitled Desire and its Interpretation is ‘that of the place of desire in the economy of psychoanalytic experience … believing that the specific interpretation of any desire must begin from there.’ and, from there, ‘…owing to our artifices, their (the patient’s) desire can, following our lead, be reduced to need—or even lead toward sublimation along the elevated paths of love…’it’s understandable that james hulbert would choose to translate a selection from a seminar by lacan, a psychoanalyst, for a journal of french studies focused on literature and culture. lacan, in Desire and Its Interpretation, discussed Hamlet over seven classes, as a summary of the play, a critique of the works on hamlet written by analysts, and delving into the history of the tragedy, citing works about hamlet by writers who wrote about hamlet prior to shakespeare, of much interest to readers of lacan who believe his work speaks as much to literature as to psychoanalysis.‘The function of the object in desire is what we need to broach, and it is because the tragedy of Hamlet allows us to broach it and spell it out in an exemplary manner that I am examining the structure of this text with such unflagging interest.’lacan places much emphasis is on dreams. the pun in the title should not go unnoticed. freud’s most popular book remains Interpretation of Dreams.a description of desire, followed by one of freud’s dreams in which the father and the phallus are prominent. the dream is about a dead father who doesn’t know he is dead, setting up lacan’s discussion of Dream Analysis by ella sharpe. lacan’s talk here to his students, shifts briefly from the phallus to the vulva. given the importance of the phallus in psychoanalytic discourse, it comes as a bit of delight to see attention here paid to the vulva.throughout his classes melanie klein and other female analysts are discussed and cited, and female students addressed are addressed. readers of the selected sections from lacan’s writings collected by and commented on by juliet mitchell and jacqueline rose in Feminine Sexuality may find what lacan said here attractive.

"Desire and its Interpretation: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan" by Jacques Lacan (Translated by Bruce Fink" is very in-depth. So in-depth that I sort of drowned the first 1/4 in. I'm not kidding on that. To be fair, I think I've read one book by Lacan and I had trouble with it (if memory serves) but I thought I'd have better luck with this book given the subject matter is discussed openly and I'd have some familiarity with it. Yet, I was still overwhelmed.It isn't that Lacan (or translator Fink) uses hard-to-understand vocabulary and it is interesting in its presentation. It is just more in-depth than I was ready for. I think if I had more time to ponder the writing and thoughts, I'd be less lost.So I think if one has time to absorb the ideas, then it is worth a look. If one is busy or distracted or it may be harder to keep up with it. Again, it is in-depth and interesting but it is a lot to take it.

I will be fair in this review because when I requested to review it... I did not really realized what I was getting myself into. This book is DEEP and you really need alot of time to sit an think about what you are reading. You need to analyze and ponder most of the points for you to really grasp what the author is saying. It is a good book but its also difficult for the average reader (I would think) to comprehend. It isn't a quick read by any means. Ultimately I was not able to finish this because it was well over my head.However, Yes I still stand by my 4 stars. It was edited really well. But most importantly, even given the subject matter the verbiage wasn't difficult. I would not recommend this book for a free reader like myself.

Just to locate you for Book IV, Lacan opens with a boldly confident claim of treatment as opposed to mere therapeutic process. He has the intrepid mission of being curative. Freud breathes again, at least for a moment.Lacan's thrust, as it were, means to reintroduce desire, as opposed to "object-seeking" like some sort of neural missile that operates without anything distastefully mindful or soulful. He even dredges up Down Donne's The Ecstasy" and dares mention that object of derision among the serious, comedy.But it is not my purpose to get lost in the ripe Lacanian orchard. Besides the previous reviewer does such a good job of that. Rather let me say that this is Lacan third handed, forth if you count the second hand as being Lacan's at his desk rather than at the blackboard during his seminar.Miller is a clear, fair and orderly editor. Just look at his presentation of Lacan's diagrams (although they are with some justification labeled as "graphs" here. Fink is faithful; he is pleasant to read. When he thinks he might do any disservice, he brackets the original, e.g., boon [bienfait]. Both editor and translator are careful. I need not worry about sycophant or saboteur.I might also echo that this work shows Lacan's additional purpose of showing the Freudian Age of the Father as giving way: "...we discovered the horizon of the subject who contains everything in the form of the universal Mother." Scholarly feminists will find some interest in these pages.

Just opened the book and the pages are falling out, can I be sent a replacement please?