In this first English translation of a classic text by one of the foremost commentators on Lacan's work, Nasio eloquently demonstrates the clinical and practical import of Lacan's theory, even in its most difficult or obscure moments. Five Lessons on the Psychoanalytic Theory of Jacques Lacan is the first English translation of a classic text by one of the foremost commentators on Lacan's work. Juan-David Nasio makes numerous theoretical advances and eloquently demonstrates the clinical and practical import of Lacan's theory, even in its most difficult or obscure moments. What is distinctive, in the end, about Nasio's treatment of Lacan's theory is the extent to which Lacan's fundamental concepts-the unconscious, jouissance, and the body-become the locus of the overturning or exceeding of the discrete boundaries of the individual. The recognition of the implications of Lacan's psychoanalytic theory, then, brings the analyst to adopt what Nasio calls a "special listening."

Table of Contents:
Translators' Introduction Five Lessons on the Psychoanalytic Theory of Jacques Lacan Prefatory Remarks First Lesson: The Unconscious and Jouissance First Principle: "The unconscious is structured like a language" Second Principle: "There is no sexual relation" Second Lesson: The Existence of the Unconscious When can the unconscious be said to exist? The unconscious manifests itself in "lalangue" The unconscious is a structure that actualizes itself The unconscious is the displacement of the signifier between the patient and the analyst The subject of the unconscious Third Lesson: The Concept of Object a The therapeutic goal of psychoanalysis Object a The problem of the other The formal status of object a The "corporal" status of object a The breast as object a Summary on object a: the need-demand-desire triad Fourth Lesson: Fantasy That which is proper to psychoanalysis Clinical observations on fantasy The body as a core of jouissance Fifth Lesson: The Body Sexual, symbolic, and imaginary body Partial body and jouissance A clinical vignette Formations of object a Appendix: The Concept of the Subject of the Unconscious Translated by Boris Belay The relation of the subject to unconscious knowledge The relation of the subject to logic The relation of the subject to castration The layered subject of the unconscious The concept of unconscious knowledge Notes Index