Customer Reviews

Introduction to the Reading of Lacan : The Unconscious Structured Like a Language (Lacanian Clinical Field)

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I am not at all interested in Psychanalisys and bought the book just for its (non-misleading)sub-title : the Unconcious Structured like a Language. Having just finished the reading of Sigmund Freud's major work, The Interpretation of Dreams, which is superb and which is also the basis of all Lacan's comments in this book, I was attracted to better understand the idea , already present in Freud's opus in a disguised faction, that the Unconcious is structured like a language.
Monsieur Joel Dor does it good in the sense of trying to communicate to the non-specialyzed person like myself what are the basic tenets of Lacan's difficult to understand theory. Sure, if I tell my psychanalists friends they will tell me that there is a better book, that this is not the best, etc... But in my humble opinion, I got totally what I was looking for, thinking even in reading again the book to better understand some spetacular concepts like "The Name of the Father", "The phallic object", "Metaphor and Metonimy" (linguistics applied to Psyche Analisys) and the like.
THis is the kind of book one does not regret buying, specially if he (she) is interested in better understant the workings of the unconcious and the formation of the language process in the mind.
Lacan and Freud are Sacred Monster of it all.

Dor's text is a very user-friendly introduction to Jacques Lacan's groundbreaking rereading of Freud--(most importantly, this means the freeing of psychoanalysis from strict biological determinism). A master assimilator, Lacan re-shaped the notion of the human subject, and the author tackles the subject in piece-by-piece fashion without overwhelming the reader. Dor even tries to make sense of Lacan's borderline insane graphical representations of the primacy of the signifier over the signified, and to an extent he succeeds. Though I am new to Lacan, I found this text to be the most precise and readable introduction to his ideas.

This is one of the few books on Lacanian psychoanalysis that address the questions of how the ego is formed and what the defensive function is masking. For me, it brought to light an entirely new explanation of Freud's oedipal complex and it offers telling clinical examples of how the signifier plays itself out in neurotic formation. Dor is clear and systematic and identifies with the uninitiated reader. You can tell that he enjoyed making Lacan clear. This book is a treat and you feel smarter after reading it.

I have been told that reading Lacan in the original, be it in French or English, is tantamount to decipher some Egyptian hierogliphy. Maybe this is not quite so, but I decided to jump into this second-hand reading mainly attracted by the title, which is my present area of interest, that is, the relationship between language and the unconcious, which now I know is one Lacan's trademark, if not in its originality at least in the powerfull way he pursued the subject.

I may say that I was in no way disapointed cause the book delivers exactly what I was looking for. Sure, I am not a scholar and my opinion here is just one of a guy marginally interested in the subject. Now I know a little bit more the relationship between languages and the unconcious, and I think I am now more able to read Lacan in the original.

I would like also to add that the reading will more profitable for whoever has read the Interpretation of Dreams, of Sigmund Freud, a work quoted all the time.

This book offers you a basis for the understanding of Mr. Lacan that starts with a section for kids, if I should rank the level... The main goal,indicated in the subtitle, the comprehension of the unconscious as structured like a language, is made very clear. That might be a good point for a twist of interpretation in those inclined to think of psychoanalysis as obscure esoterism... On the other hand, this book is self-contained, and so does not discuss with a tradition...so it has the taste of a textbook...anyway, I would recommend it if you have no idea of who this guy Lacan was...I would recommend also that you buy Seminar 1, and if possible read some of Louis Althusser's papers about the importance of Lacan. And if in the end you don't understand him completely, don't worry, you're part of a big group of people.