This is the first collection of essays to offer a comprehensive analysis of, and reflection on, the major themes emergent in Jacques Lacan's seminars of 1955-56 and 1956-57: Seminar IV - the object relation, and Seminar V - formations of the unconscious.

Assessing the value of a clinical approach orientated around the question of the object lack in the contemporary clinic, the book comprises 16 chapters which follow the development of a range of concepts elaborated by Lacan in these seminars, including sustained engagement with his critique of object relations theory. It considers the effectiveness of these early ideas in clinical practice in relation to hysteria, phobia, fetishism, obsessional neurosis, and of the so-called "Borderline" case. Lacan's early concepts are also subjected to critique for engagement with Queer theory, and research in asexuality or the operation(s) of the signifier Phallus.

The chapters build to provide an invaluable resource to interpret and evaluate Lacan's early teaching, and to find in his early concepts a fresh utility and scope for both clinical work and psychoanalytic research and enquiry. The book will be of great interest to Lacanian scholars and students, as well as psychoanalytic therapists, and analysts interested in Lacan's early work.

About the Author

Carol Owens and Nadezhda Almqvist are psychoanalytic practitioners in Dublin. They are the founders of the Dublin Lacan study group.

Reviews

"A stellar constellation of readers analyze two of Lacan's major seminars here, one on our relation to the object and the other on "unconscious formations" like dreams, daydreams, and fantasies. Fascinating work will be found here on phobia, fetishism, and perversion more generally, as well as on witticisms, lack, metaphor, the phallus, castration, and clinical practice with children and adults." --Bruce Fink, Lacanian psychoanalyst, author of several books on Freud and Lacan, translator into English of Lacan's Ecrits and Seminars VI: Desire and Its Interpretation, VIII: Transference, and XX: Encore

"At last, a scholarly examination of Lacan's Seminars IV and V by practitioners who know how to read Lacan and show us the intimate link between conceptual developments and clinical work. This book couples two seminars, enabling us to trace the to and fro in Lacan's Seminar between subject and signifier, and here from lack to desire." --Ian Parker, Psychoanalyst, Secretary Manchester Psychoanalytic Matrix.

"Studying Lacan's Seminars IV and V represents a fundamental breakthrough in the understanding of Jacques Lacan's thought. Through a series of fecund essays unpacking the intricacies of two of the more difficult early seminars, this volume sheds light on key problems like phobia, the phallus, and lack. Anyone who wants to know anything about the psychoanalytic project must view the collection that Carol Owens and Nadezhda Almquist have put together as utterly essential." -- Professor Todd McGowan, University of Vermont

"As if live-streaming the seminars, this excellent collection highlights Lacan's contemporary relevance by putting it into action. Punctuated with clinical material, the book moves with ease between theory and practice, astutely deploying controversial psychoanalytic notions such as lack, desire, and the phallus. Drawing useful distinctions between phobias, fetishism, and perversion, the authors explain the clinical use of dreams and jokes. These forceful essays, all written with verve and clarity, set a model for the transmission of psychoanalysis while providing an indispensable companion to Lacan's seminars IV and V." --Patricia Gherovici, psychoanalyst and author, Transgender Psychoanalysis: A Lacanian Perspective on Sexual Difference (Routledge, 2017)

Book Information
ISBN 9780367027681
Author Carol Owens
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 498g