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CLT4070/5070

Lacan and subjectivity

Proposed to be offered next in 1998

Elizabeth Grosz

8 or 12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Clayton
* Prerequisites: CRT2050/3050 or PHL3050; or CRT2060/3060 or PHL3060. (See Arts undergraduate handbook for details of these subjects)

Objectives On the successful completion of this course students should have read widely in the unusual and difficult writings of Jacques Lacan; gained sufficient background in such areas as debates over Freudian theory, twentieth-century French thought, the events of May 1968 and the advent of feminism to be able to understand Lacan's contributions to psychoanalytic theory; learnt to use a series of techniques for detailed reading and questioning of Lacan's complex writings; developed their own independent arguments regarding Lacan's work; and accumulated the critical and expressive resources to write clear, concise, accurate and independent essays on topics related to this subject.

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) Seminar paper (3000 words): 20%
* Essay (3000words): 80%

Assessment (12 points) 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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Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168
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Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996