Jacques Lacan : a critical introduction /
Martin Murray
- 214 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
- Modern European thinkers .
- Modern European thinkers .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-205) and index
Stopping and starting -- Sweet and sour -- Sense and nonsense -- Man and window -- I and I -- Fight and flight -- Word and wish -- Ending and beginning
"The wide-ranging and brilliant ideas of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan have had a major influence on twentieth- and twenty-first century thought. His 'followers' are loyal and legion. Yet his ideas are complex and were conveyed in a dense and abstract form. Lacan's detractors have accused him of obscurantism, pretentiousness and even incoherence. His psychoanalytic practice and his personal life were complicated too. He was famous and contentious in equal measure. Martin Murray provides a lucid account of Lacan's key concepts, tracing their origins in his diverse interests: art, psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics and (of course) psychoanalysis. Murray also investigates Lacan's professional life, personal life and institutional influence in an attempt to understand the charismatic and controversial person he became. The investigation uncovers a uniquely 'split' and contradictory figure whose life and work is both fascinating and erratic. The book offers a critical, biographical and historical introduction to Lacan that encourages a critical appreciation of his life and his thought."--Page 4 of cover