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Among the new books released in the past month, Timothy Appleton’s A Lacanian Conception of Populism: Society Does Not Exist was published by Routledge at the start of September. Instead of equating populism with hegemony, Appleton treats them as stemming from different and even incompatible logics distinguished by competing perspectives on the social totality, writing that where “hegemony absolutises it, populism eviscerates it.” In this book Appleton goes on to argue for a “populism of singularities”, a proposal pertinent to the question of whether politics is ‘left’ or ‘right’, ‘truth’ or ‘post-truth’. In addition to Lacan, his references include the work of Laclau, Badiou, Zizek, and Rancière.

Ricardo Espinoza Lolas’ Psychoanalysis for Intersectional Humanity: Sade Reloaded, also published by Routledge at the start of September, combines critical theory, the arts, and feminism in attempting a “disarticulation of the categories of neurosis, psychosis and perversion… and the suggestion of a new clinic and a new politics.” Considering the vast diversities of sexual practice under capitalism, he uses Sade to think about what a psychoanalytic clinic which considers these diversities should look like, “not as a negative aspect of humanity, but as a part of us that strives for a freer and more inclusive life.”

Towards the end of this month, Raul Moncayo’s Lacanian Psychoanalysis and American Literature: Metaphoric Truth, Imaginary Fiction, Letter Jouissance, and Nomination will also be published by Routledge. Three classic works of nineteenth century literature are given a psychoanalytic treatment: Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, and The Purloined Letter. Each are read with reference to Lacan’s Seminar XIV on the Logic of Fantasy, and using his notions of object a and the passage à l’acte. Moncayo is an analyst and former president of the Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis USA, and the co-founder of the Beijing Center for Freudian and Lacanian Psychoanalysis and Research in China.

Among newly-published journals, the latest issue of the Colorado Analytic Forum’s journal ‘Actually, Lacan’, (2023, number 2), ‘On Free Association’, is out now. The first issue of the journal since 2015, it includes pieces by a number of distinguished Latin American analysts and scholars (particularly from Argentina) including Gabriel Lombardi, Matia Laje Gabriela Zorzutti, and Sonia Alberti. Colorado Forum members’ writings also appear, all of which are from clinicians. It is available on Amazon in Kindle or paperback editions.

Turning to events, Apres-Coup Psychoanalytic Association in New York has released its calendar of events for 2023-2024. Beginning on 23rd September with a Critique of Oedipal Normativity and Lacan’s reading of logic, the timetable includes a round table on ethics and practice at the end of Sept, and talks by Lacan’s former analysands Betty Milan in October and Erik Porge in February 2024 respectively.

The Center for the Clinical Arts will welcome Benoît Le Bouteiller and Marta Marciano to present on ‘Lacan’s Topological Bet’, on Sept 14th, via Zoom. What does Lacan’s “topological bet” consist of? What are the theoretical and clinical impacts of Lacan’s last articulations guided by this bet? The seminar will address these questions by presenting the general ethical and theoretical framework through a clinical example. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.

The Lectures on Lacan series by Prof. Dr. Samuel McCormick will be reading and discussing Lacan’s Seminar XVIII, ‘On a Discourse that might not be a Semblance’, from this September to November. In addition to sharing weekly recorded lectures with all registered participants, Prof. McCormick will be hosting live Zoom discussions of these materials every other Friday from 10am-12pm PST. He will also be joined by a cadre of scholars and clinicians from the Association for Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI). In anticipation of their November congress on “Returning to the Clinical Case Study,” colleagues at APPI will be reading Seminar XVIII alongside participants and taking part in live discussions along the way. Full details and link to join here.

Invitations to form or participate in cartels for the new academic year are open to anyone with an interest in psychoanalysis, especially people completely new to cartels. The London Society of the NLS will be holding its Cartel Study Day on Sat 7th Oct with a discussion guided by long-time NLS Cartel Delegate Frank Rollier. Tickets to that event are on Eventbrite, cartel proposals can be submitted here, and more information on working in cartels through the NLS is here.

Plenty more Lacanian content on YouTube in the last month. Philosophy Portal welcomes the aforementioned Prof. Dr. Samuel McCormick for a discussion of Lacan’s Ecrits, part of its course which started at the beginning of September. Derek Hook presents two videos on Klein Alongside Lacan, examining the differences and unexpected convergences between the two analyst contemporaries. Andrew Flores discusses a Lacanian critique of ‘therapism’ and ego psychology with reference to Phil Stutz, Jordan Peterson and Gabor Maté on the Theory Underground channel from late August. And Donald Kunze’s excellent channel explaining topology and its use in psychoanalysis tackles Lacan’s difficult 1972 text L’Etourdit.

Lastly, yet more excellent resources for Lacan scholars have been uploaded on Richard G. Klein’s Freud2Lacan.com in the last month, especially on the Lacan page. In particular, a bilingual text of the transcript of Lacan’s consultation with the patient known as Gerard Primeau which took place in February 1976 at the Henri Rouselle hospital in Paris. The consultation is mentioned in Seminar XXIII, The Sinthome, later that month (pp.77-78 in the English translation). It gives a rare insight into Lacan’s approach to clinical consultations and his style in practice, which is all the more valuable to have in this bilingual translation.

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