First Writings

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-5095-6130-8
Verlag: Polity Press

Buch, Englisch, 128 Seiten, Format (B × H): 142 mm x 218 mm, Gewicht: 277 g

Before he became an analyst, Lacan was a psychiatrist. The articles in the present volume would not be being republished if they didn’t invite us to read them retroactively. What can they teach us about the formation of this future analyst?

Lacan’s clinical approach is rooted in the uniqueness of each case, which is only ever chosen for its “singularity”. Each one must necessarily present an “original character” or be “atypical”. One might recognise from the outset an orientation towards the “one-by-one” required by the practice of psychoanalysis.

The singularity of each case re-occurs at the level of the clinical details, studied with a concern for precision that extends down to the smallest detail, to the point where the observation may seem labyrinthine to the reader. Lacan will later declare his taste for “fidelity to the symptom’s formal envelope”.

Three other features carry traces of the future. There is the use of the word “structure” to refer to the organisation of an entity that forms a whole, separate from other entities, and detached from the concept of development. There is the importance given to the analysis of the writings of patients. And then there is the related connection established between symptoms and literary creations.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lacan, Jacques

Weitere Mitwirkende

Grigg, Russell

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Kulturphilosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Theorie, Psychoanalyse
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturtheorie: Poetik und Literaturästhetik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Translator’s Note

Foreword by Jacques-Alain Miller

Abasia in a Woman Traumatised by War

Simultaneous Madness
Structure of the Paranoiac Psychoses

“Inspired” Writings: Schizography

The Problem of Style and the Psychiatric Conception of Paranoiac Forms of Experience

Motives of Paranoiac Crime: The Papin Sisters’ Crime

Psychology and Aesthetics

Hallucinations and Delusions

References
Notes

Über Autor(innen)

Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) was one of the twentieth century’s most influential thinkers. His many works include Écrits, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-analysis and the many volumes of The Seminar.