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New Publications
Whiteness at the Abyss: A Lacanian Reading of ‘White Anxiety’ by Derek Hook was published as part of the Palgrave Lacan Series last month. With contributions by Sheldon George, Donald Moss, and Slavoj Žižek, it approaches the topic of ‘whiteness’ – and in particular its instantiation in (post-)apartheid South Africa – psychoanalytically, examining the fantasies, fears, and investments that characterise ‘white anxiety.’ Beginning with a consideration of temporality and post-colonial history before moving to more personal reflections on the experience of being attacked for his critique of white supremacy, Hook uses analytic theory to present a new perspective on racial privilege and racial power dynamics.
Reading Foucault Through Lacan: From Hysteric to Analyst, by Jessica L. Davis, is also new from the Palgrave Lacan Series. Here Davis argues that the two contemporary thinkers shared a common project to decentre the concept of the subject and critically reappraise the notion of subjectivity in post-Kantian thought. Using Lacan’s Seminar XVII, and in particular the theory of the four discourses discussed there, the book’s two parts take the form of a dialogue between the discourses of the hysteric and the analyst respectively, with questions of violence and embodied resistance mixed with those of transference and the ethics of speaking.
Powers of Abjection: Politics and Lacanian Ontology, by Ricardo Laleff Ilieff, was published by Routledge at the start of the year, using Kristeva’s notion to understand politics alongside Lacan’s ontology of the real and Freud’s uncanny. The manifestation of the abject in sacrifice, war, and the One are considered alongside thinkers who have engaged with these ideas, such as Benjamin, Butler, Girard and Agamben.
The Remains of Reason: On Meaning after Lacan by Dominik Finkelde is new this month from Northwestern University Press. It unpacks the central role of the unconscious in the relationship between mind and world, prefaced by a foreword from Eric Santner. Moving beyond Freud, Kant, and Hegel and toward the contemporary work of the Ljubljana School, Finkelde explores how humans relate to facts and the influence of the unconscious on questions regarding truth, perception, and meaning.
New Recordings
On YouTube, Agon Hamza and Frank Ruda sit down with psychoanalyst and author Darian Leader to discuss his latest book Is It Ever Just Sex?, his intellectual trajectory, the status and role of psychoanalysis, sciences, art, and the topics of his previous books, Stealing the Mona Lisa and Hands among other topics.
Also on YouTube, Derek Hook and Stijn Vanheule are interviewed by Ozgur Ogutcen for Axis Publishing on their recent book Lacan on Depression. The discussion addresses topics including the notion of depression as a structural rather than descriptive disorder, its imaginary and symbolic aspects as they pertain to diagnosis, and Lacan’s comments in Television on the ethics of the well-spoken.
Upcoming Events
Lacan Toronto‘s schedule of events in the next month begins with an online presentation by Sergio Benvenuto on ‘Lacan and Game Theory’ on Sunday 2nd February from 1:30-3pm EST. The session will be held online via Zoom free of charge and open to all with no registration required. Samuel McCormick (16th February) and Russell Grigg (2nd March) are upcoming contributors also giving presentations in the near future. Full details and how to get the Zoom links are available here.
On Tuesday 4th February the first of a three part seminar series on Lacan and Education will begin, held online and in person at University of Birmingham, UK. This event will be with Prof Calum Neill, and is free and open to all. Additional seminars within the series will be held 12:00-13:00 GMT on Tuesday 18th February and Tuesday 4th March. Register to receive the Zoom link.
On Saturday 8th February the London Society of the NLS will welcome Miquel Bassols for a hybrid event leading up to the NLS Congress 2025 on ‘Painful Loves.’ Bassols will explore the theme ‘Erotomania: Love and Jouissance’, drawing on Lacan’s Seminar XX, Encore. All are welcome and registration is open for online or in-person attendance. Registration for the NLS Congress in May is available here.
Starting 14th February, Prof. Dr. Samuel McCormick’s Lectures on Lacan series will be tackling Lacan’s Seminar XXI, Les Non-Dupes Errent. Lectures will run through till 9th May, and in addition to sharing recorded lectures with all registered participants, McCormick will be hosting five online discussions in an effort to make the text clear, coherent, and accessible. Meanwhile, the series on Seminar XX is underway at present, with the first episode in the free podcast series now available via Substack or YouTube. The Lectures on Lacan archive is also available to catch up on previous commentaries.
The PSA<>POL conference, ‘Psychoanalysis & Politics: The Impossible Relation’, will take place 22nd-23rd February in Brooklyn, New York City. It is organised by the Group for Independent Formation, co-sponsored by the Greene Clinic. Keynotes come from Sylvia Lippi and Eric Santner. Through in-depth interviews, roundtable discussions and other encounters exploring a constellation of questions – about group psychology, ideology, authorization, institutional life, statehood, and alternative forms of collectivity – this conference will inquire into the impossible relationship (conceptually, historically, and on the contemporary scene) between psychoanalysis and the political: asking not so much how the one can be applied to the other (psychoanalysis to politics or vice versa) but how each is conflictually implicated in the other.
Between April 12th-14th Psychoanalysis Pakistan will be hosting a major psychoanalysis conference in Karachi, Pakistan to explore the opportunities and challenges of a psychoanalytic thinking space in Pakistan. The conference will be curated by Prof Duane Rousselle (Aga Khan University, Pakistan) and Dr Marta Bolognani (University of Exeter, UK). It includes psychoanalytic practitioners and theorists from around the country in Pakistan and from the UK. The conference will also have supervision and training sessions. A certificate is awarded at the end of the conference. Conference program and registration is at www.PsychoanalysisPakistan.com (click the menu “Conference” at the top right).
New Resources
The World Association of Psychoanalysis has launched its new website in the past month, the English version of which can be found at https://www.association-mondiale-psychanalyse.org/en/accueil/. For those confused by the multitude of different Lacanian groups aligned with the WAP – which was established in 1992 and is second only to the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) in scale – the site provides some helpful context and resources describing its organisation, its member Schools, and its relation to the broader Freudian Field.
At the bottom of the homepage of Freud2Lacan.com are updated versions of two key resources for scholars of psychoanalysis. Firstly, a Diary or Chronology of Important Events in Freud’s Life–From his birth on May 6, 1856 until Dec. 31, 1900. Secondly, an orderly listing – a genealogical chart – of “who analyzed whom” in the early, classic years of psychoanalysis. As a by-product of this project, Richard G. Klein has also provided an alphabetical list of over 200 of Freud’s patients. There are also new additions to the Lacan page, including translations of two early articles by Lacan – Troubles mentaux homochromes chez deux frères heredosyphilitiques, from 1931 (no. 16) and Un cas de perversion infantile, from 1933 (no. 34).
Finally, it was with great sadness that the passing of psychoanalyst, author, professor and editor Ellie Ragland was announced in January. For many of us now working as Lacanian analysts or scholars of Lacan’s work, Ellie was absolutely instrumental in opening the field to us, and in particular bringing Lacan’s work to a new audience in the United States. She edited two journals on Lacanian psychoanalysis, including the journal (Re-)turn, and authored or edited nine books on Lacanian psychoanalysis, her first being Jacques Lacan and the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis in 1987. She was extraordinarily passionate about psychoanalysis and encouraging to those sharing this passion, with a warmth and generosity that was full of spirit. One of her final interviews, discussing her final project of a book on Lacan and hysteria, is available here.
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