CLS4070

Lacan and subjectivity

Not offered in 1999

Claire Colebrook

12 points - 3 hours per week - First semester - Clayton - Prerequisites: CRT2050/CRT3050 or PHL3050; or CRT2060/CRT3060 or PHL3060 - Prohibitions: CRT4070

Objectives On completion of this subject students should have acquired an understanding of the unusual and difficult writings of Jacques Lacan with enough knowledge of the relevant intellectual background to understand the significance of his contribution to psychoanalytic theory; they should have developed techniques for reading and questioning Lacan's complex writings as well as the skills to be able to construct their own independent arguments regarding his work; they should have developed their critical and expressive resources to be able to write clear, concise, accurate and independent essays related to this thinker.

Synopsis The subject is designed to provide an introductory reading of the difficult texts of the French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan and a guide to the relevant intellectual background necessary for understanding his contribution to psychoanalytic theory - that is, an outline of key works by Freud and some discussion of important debates in twentieth-century thought, the experience of May 68 and the advent of feminism. We will explore Lacan's accounts of: (1) the ego, subjectivity and otherness; (2) the unconscious and desire 'structured like a language'; (3) his understanding of the phallus and sexual difference. The subject will aim to show his relevance to philosophical accounts of subjectivity, theories of literary and visual representation, and feminist theory.

Assessment Seminar paper (3000 words): 20% - Either one 6000-word essay or two 3000-word essays: 80%

Prescribed texts

Descombes V Modern French philosophy
Gallop J Jacques Lacan
Grosz E Jacques Lacan: A feminist introduction
Irigaray L Speculum of the other woman
Lacan J Écrits: A selection
Lacan J Feminine sexuality
Lacan J The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis
Lacan J Seminar I, II and IV
Muller J and Richardson W Lacan and language
Roudiresco E Jacques Lacan and Co.
Wilden A The language of the self
Zizck S The sublime object of ideology

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