MSc in Theoretical Psychoanalytic Studies

Lacan and the Modern French Reading List
Spring Term 2009
Coordinators: Dr Lionel Bailly and Dr Jim Rose

Background reading and/or general references:

The best introductions to Lacan are Joel Dor's, Introduction to the Reading of Lacan ( Other, 1998) and Malcolm Bowie's, Jacques Lacan (London: Fontana, 1991).

Lacan. The Absolute Master (Borch-Jacobsen, Mikkel, trans. Douglas Brick, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991) is also clear, but somewhat hyper-critical and perhaps too philosophical for some tastes

An historical (and sometime controversial) perspective on Lacan is to be found in Elizabeth Roudinesco, Jacques Lacan , Columbia University Press, 1999.

Lacan:

As with Freud (or Klein, or Winnicott), nothing can, in the end, replace reading the original. However, with Lacan, this is easier said than done. The two main sources for Lacan's own writing are Ecrits; A Selection , trans. Alan Sheridan, London : Tavistock, 1977; and then the series of transcriptions of Lacan's Seminars , of which several have now been published and translated. The Seminars are in general easier to read but more discursive. They cover a long chronological period: Seminar Book I dates from 1954; Seminar Book XX dates from 1973-74. The early Seminars are much easier to read than the later ones.

NB: If you can read French it is probably a good idea to go back to the French text when a concept seems far too obscure. It could be that the concept is obscure but it could also be that something has been lost in translation.

Seminar 1
LACAN: LACAN IN HIS CONTEXT (historical, cultural, philosophical, theoretical.)
Friday 23rd January 2.15-3.45pm
Dr Lionel Bailly

A knowledge of Lacan's intellectual background (where he came from, who he studied and worked with) is crucial to the understanding of his theoretical constructions and style of clinical work. A psychiatrist by training, Lacan also drew heavily on numerous other disciplines. As a friend of the Surrealist group and part of the intellectually vibrant Paris scene of the mid-twentieth century, he was in close contact with thinkers in the avant-garde of their respective fields. We examine the impact on his thinking of:

Psychiatry with Dr De Clerambault

Psychology with Henri Wallon

Phenomelogy with Koyre, Kojeve and Merleau-Ponty

Anthropology with Levi-Strauss and the Stucturalists

Linguistic with Saussure and Jacobson

ESSENTIAL READING: None

RECOMMENDED READING: Elizabeth Roudinesco, Jacques Lacan , Columbia University Press, 1999. Book

Seminar 2
LACAN: THE MIRROR STAGE
Friday 6th February 2.15-3.45pm
Dr Lionel Bailly

Beyond the optical set that Lacan uses to build his concept of the Mirror Stage is a more pragmatic and clinically relevant scene: a mother and a baby having fun together. The baby looks at him/herself in a mirror and suddenly has a revelation: "That's me in the mirror". We examine what this experience reveals of the construction of the Subject, the alienation of the subject in the ego and the ambiguity of communication.

ESSENTIAL READING: The mirror stage as formative of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience, Ecrits a selection, Routledge, 1977. Folder

RECOMMENDED READING: Malcolm Bowie, Jacques Lacan , London : Fontana , 1991. Book

Seminar 3
LACAN: "THE UNCONSCIOUS STRUCTURED LIKE A LANGUAGE" AND "REAL, SYMBOLIC, IMAGINARY"
Friday 13th February 2.15-3.45pm
Dr Lionel Bailly

Lacan points out that a dream has the structure of a sentence. This leads him to propose a structural analogy between processes of language and the dynamic of the unconscious. Borrowing concepts from structural linguistics, Lacan develops a new approach that has many implications for the practice of analysis/therapy.

We also examine how the RSI (Real, Symbolic & Imaginary) system is a new tool for reading the human psyche, and its clinical and practical implications for the therapist.

ESSENTIAL READING: Joel Dor, Introduction to the Reading of Lacan ( Other, 1998) Book

RECOMMENDED READING: Any introduction to structural linguistic, Le seminaire sur "La lettre volee", Ecrits [Jacques Lacan, Seminar on "The Purloined Letter" trans by Jeffrey Mehlman Folder (or some comments on that seminar in Malcolm Bowie or Joel Dor)

Seminar 4
LACAN: AN OVERVIEW OF LACANIAN CONCEPTS
Friday 27th February 2.15-3.45pm
Dr Lionel Bailly

In a "dictionary" style we briefly go again through some of the main Lacanian concepts in order to give the student an overview of Lacan's work and give them an opportunity to select subjects they wish to understand further.

ESSENTIAL READING: None

RECOMMENDED READING: Malcolm Bowie, Jacques Lacan , London : Fontana , 1991. Book

Seminar 5
Advances in Lacanian Psychoanalysis of Children: The Work of Jean Berges and Gabriel Balbo
Friday 6th March 2.15-3.45pm
Dr Lionel Bailly

-Function, functionement and the development of thinking

-Mothers' transitivism and the role of hypothesis making

ESSENTIAL READING: None

Seminar 6
LACAN: LACANIAN ANALYSIS IN PRACTICE
Friday 13 March 2.15-3.45pm
Dr Lionel Bailly

Lacan's work is not primarily aimed at academic discussion but at clinical work. We will introduce important aspects of his work such as:

Transference and counter-transference, neutrality and the analyst's response, the purpose and end of analysis, the training of analysts, the duration of sessions.

ESSENTIAL READING: None

RECOMMENDED READING: The direction of the treatment and the principle of its power, Ecrits. Folder

If you want to discuss further any questions raised by the course, you may contact me at the following address:

Dr Lionel Bailly,
Psychoanalysis Unit, Room 540a
Email: l.bailly@ucl.ac.uk

Seminar 7
BROADENING THE SCOPE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
Friday 20th March 4.00-5.30pm

Dr Jim Rose

In this seminar, we shall consider the debate between Leo Rangell and Andre Green concerning the scope and applicability of psychoanalysis, which took place in London in 1975.

ESSENTIAL READING:

Bergmann S. (1999). The dynamics of the history of psychoanalysis in: The Dead Mother (ed. G. Kohon), Routledge: London chap.10 Folder

Kohon G. (1999). The introductory interview between Kohon and Green in The Dead Mother Routledge: London . Folder

Green, A. (1975). The Analyst, Symbolization and Absence in the Analytic Setting (On Changes in Analytic Practice and Analytic Experience)-In Memory of D. W. Winnicott. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 56:1-22 PEP/Folder

Rangell, L. (1975). Psychoanalysis and the Process of Change-An Essay on the Past, Present and Future. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 56:87-98 PEP/Folder

Seminar 8
THE DEAD MOTHER AND THE WORK OF THE NEGATIVE
Friday 27th March 4.00-5.30pm

Dr Jim Rose

In this seminar, we shall consider some of the conceptual and clinical implications of Green's thinking.

ESSENTIAL READING:

1. Conceptual developments

Green, A. (1997). The Intuition of the Negative in Playing and Reality. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 78:1071-1084 PEP/Folder

Green, A. (1998). The Primordial Mind and the Work of the Negative. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 79:649-665 PEP/Folder

Green, A. (2000). The Work of the Negative . Free Association Books: London .
See the appendices entitled "The Work of the Negative" and "Negative hallucination". Folder

2. Clinical implications

Green, A. (2001) The Dead Mother in: Life Narcissism: Death narcissism , Free Assoc. Books Chap. 6 also in: On Private Madness (1986) Hogarth: London . Folder

Rose J. S. (2002) The presence of absence in the transference: a clinical paradox In: Penser les limites. Ecrits en l'honneur d'Andre Green Delachaux et Niestle: Paris Folder

Other reading lists

This page last modified 17 November, 2008 by Sophie Bennett