CLS4070

Lacan and subjectivity

Claire Colebrook

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

Objectives To provide an introduction to the unusual and difficult writings of Jacques Lacan; to provide the relevant intellectual background necessary for understanding Lacan's contributions to psychoanalytic theory - that is, an outline of key works by Freud and key debates which provide the context for Lacan's work (twentieth-century French thought, May 1968, the advent of feminism); to provide a series of techniques for a detailed reading and questioning of Lacan's complex writings as well as the resources to develop student's own independent arguments regarding Lacan's work; and to provide the critical and expressive resources to enable students to write clear, concise, accurate and independent essays on topics related to this reading.

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 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