Reading Lacan

Reading Lacan is not an easy task. Lacan’s work can be categorized into two parts, namely seminars and ecrits (theoretical texts) As Zizek, a well-known Lacanian, emphasised, Lacan’s seminars and ecrits relate like analysand’s and analyst’s speech in the treatment. Now the question is, how to read Lacan? What’s first, Ecrits or seminars? Again, Zizek simplifies the task. If anyone keen to learn the Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts, he or she should read the both seminars and ecrits. But, if you read just the one part of Lacan’s work, you will get nothing.

Therefore, proper way to understand the concepts of Lacan is, first read the seminar and then read the corresponding ecrits in order to understand the seminar and all, then it will make some sense. But, in some cases, it doesn’t work that way either and it’s gruelling to absorb his tricky ideas. Therefore, better read some other Lacanians’ writings who gave simplified versions of Lacan’s original texts.

Even after read the simplified versions, still If someone cannot perceives all psychoanalytic concepts as Lacan intended, don’t worry, once Lacan himself introduced Jacques Alain Miller (his son-in-law) as “the (only) one knows to read me”.