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Jean-Michel Rabat? offers a systematic genealogy of Lacan's theory of literature, reconstructing an original doctrine based upon Freudian insights and revitalized through close readings of authors as diverse as Poe, Gide, Shakespeare, Plato, Claudel, Sophocles, Sade, Genet, Duras, and Joyce. Not simply an essay about Lacan's influences or style, this book shows how the emergence of terms like the "letter" and the "symptom" would not have been possible without innovative readings of literary texts. Lacan's critique of "applied psychoanalysis" entails a new practice of psychoanalysis understood as a type of textual reading of the Unconscious.
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transitions
Jacques
Lacan
P s y c h o a n a l y s i s and t h e S u b j e c t of L i t e r a t u r e Jean-Michel Rabaté
palgrave
€> Jean-Michel Rabaté 2001 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P OLP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2001 by PALCRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALCRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin's Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 0-333-79304-8 hardback ISBN 0-333-79305-6 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rabaté, Jean-Michel, 1949Jacques Lacan : psychoanalysis and the subject of literature / Jean-Michel Rabaté. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-333-79304-8 (cloth)— ISBN 0-333-79305-6 (pbk.) 1. Psychoanalysis and literature. 2. Lacan, Jacques, 1901— -Contributions in criticism. I. Title. II. Title: Last word. III. Title. 80V.92-dc21 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 Printed in China
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Contents
General Editor's Preface Abbreviations Acknowledgements 1. LacanfromL to Z, or Against Interpretation'
vii ix xi 1
2. LacanfromA to L: Basic Lacanian Issues and Concepts
11
3. The Theory of the Letter: Lituraterre and Gide
29
4. Poe's 'Purloined Letter'
42
5. Hamlet and the Desire of the Mother
54
6. Antigone. Between the Beautiful and the Sublime
69
7. Sade: Subverting the Law
85
8. RavishingDuras, or the Gift of Love
115
9. Tragedies and Comedies of Love:fromPlato to Claudel and Genet 10. Joyce's Jouissance, or a New Literary Symptom
135 154
11. Conclusion
183
Notes and References Annotated Bibliography Index
186 200 222
General
Editor's
Preface
Transitions: transition-em, n. of action. 1. A passing or passage from one condition, action or (rarely) place, to another. 2. Passage in thought, speech, or writing,fromone subject to another. 3. a. The passingfromone note to another b. The passingfromone key to another, modulation. 4. The passagefroman earlier to a later