A review by colin_cox
How to Read Lacan by Slavoj Žižek

3.0

I can think of few contemporary Lacanian theorists better equipped to write an introduction to Lacan than Slavoj Žižek. He thinks and writes about Lacan with effortless command, and he does so with such regularity that it is practically impossible to catalog each and every occurrence. Unfortunately, he is Slavoj Žižek, a writer who couples compelling, idiosyncratic proses with meandering flights of developmental fancy. That is to say, Žižek is an important and engaging theorist to read, but he is far from a clear and coherent one, especially for the uninitiated. This is why How to Read Lacan is more often than not a frustrating introduction, which is what it purports to be. Chapters 3 and 4, on Lacan's understanding of fantasy and the Real, are quite good, though. With that said, I would encourage someone who wants an introduction to Lacan to begin with Fink instead. Žižek applies, elucidates, and expands Lacanian psychoanalysis in many of his most important works, but he is poorly equipped to write an introduction to Lacan.