MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

CRT4070

Lacan and subjectivity

Proposed to be offered next in 1997

Elizabeth Grosz

Synopsis The subject is designed to provide an introductory reading of the difficult psychoanalytic texts of the French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan. We will explore his 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: (a) philosophical accounts of subjectivity; (b) theories of literary and visual representation; (c) feminist theory.

Assessment (8 points) One seminar paper: 20% + One 3000-word essay: 80%

Assessment (12 points) One seminar paper: 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