This book provides an illuminating account of the theory of subjectivity found in the work of Jacques Lacan. Guiding readers through many facets of Lacanian theory, Bruce Fink unpacks such central notions as the Other, object a, the unconscious as structured like a language, alienation and separation, the paternal metaphor, jouissance, and sexual difference. He demonstrates that, against the tide of post-structuralist thinkers who proclaim “the death of the subject,” Lacan explores what it means to come into being as a subject in its ethical and ontological dimensions. Presenting Lacan’s thought in the context of his clinical preoccupations, The Lacanian Subject offers one of the most balanced, sophisticated, and penetrating views of Lacanian psychoanalysis available.
Bruce Fink is a practicing Lacanian psychoanalyst and analytic supervisor and a leading expert on and translator of Jacques Lacan’s work. His books include A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Against Understanding, and Miss-ing.
“Fink provides the first clear, comprehensive, and systematic account of Lacan’s work in English. The influence of this book is certain to be immense on theorists and therapists alike as it provides the fully articulated foundations for a Lacanian pedagogy and makes generally available a radically new understanding of the analyst’s role. A magnificent piece of intellectual synthesis and an imposing and original contribution to psychoanalytic thought.”—Richard Klein, professor emeritus, Cornell University
“The Lacanian Subject not only provides an excellent introduction into the fundamental coordinates of Jacques Lacan’s conceptual network; it also proposes original solutions to (or at least clarifications of) some of the crucial dilemmas left open by Lacan’s work.”—Slavoj Žižek, Journal for Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society
“A remarkably clear, competent, and indeed fascinating account of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century.”—Susan Buck-Morss, author of The Origin of Negative Dialectics
