"One has to know what one is saying. It isn't sufficient to bring signifiers to play in this way -- I tap you on the shoulder ... You're a really nice person ... You had a bad daddy ... Things will work out. One has to use them in full knowledge, make them resonate otherwise, and at least know how not to employ certain of them."

READING SCHEDULE
Sept 5: Introduction
Sept 12: Chapter 1 (pp. 3-15)
Sept 19: Chapters 2 - 3 (pp. 16 - 43)
Sept 26: Chapters 4 - 5 (pp. 44 - 72)
Oct 3: Chapters 6 - 7 (pp. 73 - 101)
Oct 10: Chapters 8 - 9 (pp. 102 - 129)
Oct 17: Chapters 10 - 11 (pp. 130 - 157)
Oct 24: Chapters 12 - 13 (pp. 161 - 182)
Oct 31: Chapters 14 - 15 (pp. 183 - 205)
Nov 7: Chapters 16 - 17 (pp. 206 - 221)
Nov 14: Chapters 18 - 19 (pp. 222 - 244)
Nov. 21: Chapters 20 - 21 (247 - 270)
Nov. 28: Chapters 22 - 23 (271 - 294)
Dec 5: Chapter 24 - 25 (295 - 323)

Lacan's Linguistic Theory of the Unconscious: An Introduction
Reading Seminar*, Fall 2017
Tuesday 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Instructor: Professor Nathan Brown
Room: LB 681

*Note: "Reading Seminar" means that there is no formal enrollment or credit, nor any assignments for this course. Participants are responsible only for reading and discussing the text at weekly meetings over the course of one semester. No prior knowledge of Lacan is necessary. Students and faculty from any department or university are welcome. 

This seminar will offer an introduction to Lacanian psychoanalytic theory through a close reading of Book III of Lacan's Seminar, which offers perhaps the fullest exposition of his early teaching. Through a startlingly original theory of psychosis, Lacan teaches us how to grasp his distinction between registers of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real while emphasizing and situating the role of the signifier in the unconscious and in psychoanalytic practice.

Key points of interest will be the relation of Lacanian theory to Saussurian linguistics, Lacan's influential theory of metaphor and metonymy, and the question of how Lacan's attention to the structural articulation of signifiers might inform our reading practices. 

Our meetings will begin with an introduction to key concepts and then move to questions and group discussion.

Email: nathan.brown@concordia.ca to indicate your interest.