The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading [Paperback]

John P. Muller (Editor), William J. Richardson (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801832934 | ISBN-13: 978-0801832932 | Publication Date: December 1, 1987

Jacques Lacan's seminar on "The Purloined Letter" at once challenged literary theorists and revealed a radically new conception of psychoanalysis. His far-reaching claims about language and truth provoked a vigorous critique by Jacques Derrida, whose essay in turn has spawned further responses from Barbara Johnson, Jane Gallop, Irene Harvey, Norman Holland, and others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In the story of the interpretations, reinterpretations, displacements, and replacements that have accreted around Poe's 'The Purloined Letter,' this collection, The Purloined Poe, comes like an answer to a... riddle.

(Hana Charney Psychoanalytic Books )

A valuable, critical text.

(Year's Work in English Studies )

A fascinating volume for both the fledgling and the besotted amateurs of contemporary criticism.

(Library Journal )

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (December 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801832934
• ISBN-13: 978-0801832932
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > 19th Century

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "instead of a whodunit we get a whodonut, a story with a hole in it"--Barbara Johnson borrowing a joke, May 22, 2010

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading (Paperback)

"The Purloined Poe" is an exhaustive look at different readings of Edgar Allan Poe's short C. Auguste Dupin detective story "The Purloined Letter." It also includes different readings of the readings of the Purloined Letter. There are so many takes and interpretations of the story a reader might get sick of it all halfway through the 368 pages of text (not counting index and references). This reader has no background in psycho analogy and little experience with Poe's writings save for several biographies. The book sparked a curiosity, but it is highly recommended that anyone taking on this scholarly work have an advanced understanding of psychoanalytical theory. "The Purloined Poe" is a graduate student level compilation of writings. The main work, aside from "The Purloined Letter" itself, is Jacques Lacan's Seminar on the story. This reading is so challenging that the editors have included an overview, outline, and notes on obscure points in the work. They also recommend readers read Lacan aloud and in a seminar fashion. Such advice gives a clue as to the intellectual difficulty of Lacan not to mention the other works (13 in total) collected here. It would take up too much space, and make this reviewer's head explode, to cover all the writings in this book, so the following are some the more featured or interesting works.

Lacan's interpretation of "The Purloined Letter" revealed a fresh approach to psychoanalysis. He looked at the letter in Poe's story as the "signifier" whose "signified" (unrevealed content) is irrelevant. The letter is a moving pivot around which shifting sets of human relationships revolve. Sections from Freud disciple Marie Bonaparte's "The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe: A Psycho-analytic Interpretation" had a sexually-driven interpretation of the story, as would be expected, comparing the letter to real and imaginary female body parts (as Homer Simpson would say, "Now THAT'S psychology!"). She also considered Poe's biography much more in her interpretation than Lacan. Shoshana Felman's "On Reading Poetry" concerned the genius and magic of Poe and how his poetry has influence and power over his readers.

Even intellectuals as ground-breaking as Lacan has critics, and a translation of Jacques Derrida's response to Lacan's Seminar is here as well as responses to Derrida's reading of Lacan by Barbara Johnson, Irene Harvey, and Jane Gallop. Barbara Johnson wrote a couple lines that might sum up what is going on in all these writings: "the letter is not hidden in geometrical space, where the police are looking for it, or in anatomical space, where a literal understanding of psychoanalysis might look for it. It is located 'in' a symbolic structure, a structure that can only be perceived in its effects, and whose effects are perceived as repetition" (245). In the "Other Readings" section, this reviewer enjoyed "Re-covering 'The Purloined Letter': Reading as a Personal Transaction" by Norman H. Holland. He is very witty, more relaxed in his take on the subject and has a more accessible writing style using down-to-earth examples and personal experiences.

In summary, did this reviewer enjoy "The Purloined Poe"? No, it was quite the chore and a relief when it was finished. It is not the kind of book with which to curl up and more like the kind of book only read by those forced to read it due to a college course. The reason four stars is given is because this reviewer recognizes the work involved in compiling these writings and appreciates the efforts made by the editors to make Lacan--the catalyst of "The Purloined Letter" debate--more understandable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant intellectual detective work to the nth degree, September 25, 2010

By 

Henry Story "bblfish" (MPK20) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading (Paperback)

The best collection of essays I have ever read.

The book starts with the "Purloined Letter", the well known short detective story by Edgar A. Poe, which on initial reading I had found interesting, but had not myself read too much into, perhaps because at the time I was trying to follow some other text for which this was a footnote, perhaps because I have not read literature for a long time, and have lost the knack of reading it....

Reading these articles is a fantastic eye opener on what it means to read a text well. Each article is a masterpiece that brings a new dimension to the original story. By building on, as well as criticising the previous ones, each text bringing new elements and readings to light, both in the story as well as in the method of the previous critiques. One is constantly astonished by how much is hidden in this small and concise tale, which is a tale about interpretation, secrets, writing, philosophy and so much more...

The articles were written over a period of something like 60 years, and the authors even if they don't always mention each other, all were responding to the previous work. As a result this is perhaps the most entertaining and interesting way to get an overview of the history of literary/philsophical/psychoanalytic criticism of the last century. Seeing some of these great writers respond to each other - most of whom I knew only by name - bringing their discussion alive, allows one to understand each of their work as a debate, where as the Detective Dupin, each writer exposes the previous ones blindness and limitation or alleged limitations, only to be later himself go through the same treatment. This is not to say that each view annuls the other - far from it. Even when a reading provides a strong blow to the previous one, it rarely completely knocks it out (except perhaps the early naive Freudian reading by Bonaparte). This is much more than a simple discursive text book could ever do, simply because you can read Poe's story yourself - I'd read all of the three detective stories - make up your mind, and then see how your view is changed as you read the book.

Reading this is like going to an optician for a sight test. Each article acts as a lens, with the doctor adding a stronger and weaker ones, making the characters on the board bigger then smaller, until every inch of the story is as clear as can be, and yet giving one the feeling that the next article in the book will reveal yet more. Even though I could not yet imagine what more could be said I have a feeling the last word has not be said yet... Amazing. Edgar Alan Poe clearly comes out the winner in this.

It is an intense read, but hilarious for who knows to appreciate being surprised at every turn. A real intellectual detective story.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars That dingbat!, January 21, 2006

By 

Gordo - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading (Paperback)

No, I don't think that person filed the wrong review; they're from Miami, Florida, that pretty much explains it