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A review by raoul_g
How to Read Lacan by Slavoj Žižek
3.0
"For Lacan, language is a gift as dangerous to humanity as the horse was to the Trojans: it offers itself to our use free of charge, but once we accept it, it colonizes us."
So, this book by Slavoj Žižek is supposed to be an introduction to some of Jacques Lacan's ideas. Each chapter starts with an original fragment by Lacan and then Žižek goes on to explore and explain the concept from the fragment in his usual style, making heavy use of jokes and movie references.
I don't know if it's the lacking context, or my lack of understanding regarding psychoanalysis, or a combination thereof, but the original fragments from Lacan's writings were almost always too cryptic for me. Sometimes Žižek's commentary helped me make at least some sense of it, but this was not always the case. Even Žižek's explanations were at times too abstract or complicated for me to understand. Him exemplifying some of the ideas with the use of famous scenes from classic movies was helpful and entertaining though.
Another thing I noticed is that almost in each of the chapters I found things that I have heard Žižek saying at one point or another in his talks (of which I have watched some but not that many). Some of the other reviewers pointed out that what he does in this book is present his own ideas more than those of Lacan. At times this critique seems justified, especially when the connection between the idea he is presenting and the original Lacan fragments isn't obvious. On the other hand the Lacanian influence on Žižek's thinking can't be denied. How faithful his reading of Lacan is, is something that must be judged by others who are more capable of doing this than me.
In the book there is a range of topics that are dealt with more or less thoroughly: ideology, the superego, the ideal ego, fantasy, the big Other, desire, jouissance, the object petit a, the Real, the Symbolic and so on.
I now got a better idea of what these concepts mean, although I probably still couldn't explain them to someone else. Even though it was a difficult read, it still was quite fun due to Žižek's unique style.
So, this book by Slavoj Žižek is supposed to be an introduction to some of Jacques Lacan's ideas. Each chapter starts with an original fragment by Lacan and then Žižek goes on to explore and explain the concept from the fragment in his usual style, making heavy use of jokes and movie references.
I don't know if it's the lacking context, or my lack of understanding regarding psychoanalysis, or a combination thereof, but the original fragments from Lacan's writings were almost always too cryptic for me. Sometimes Žižek's commentary helped me make at least some sense of it, but this was not always the case. Even Žižek's explanations were at times too abstract or complicated for me to understand. Him exemplifying some of the ideas with the use of famous scenes from classic movies was helpful and entertaining though.
Another thing I noticed is that almost in each of the chapters I found things that I have heard Žižek saying at one point or another in his talks (of which I have watched some but not that many). Some of the other reviewers pointed out that what he does in this book is present his own ideas more than those of Lacan. At times this critique seems justified, especially when the connection between the idea he is presenting and the original Lacan fragments isn't obvious. On the other hand the Lacanian influence on Žižek's thinking can't be denied. How faithful his reading of Lacan is, is something that must be judged by others who are more capable of doing this than me.
In the book there is a range of topics that are dealt with more or less thoroughly: ideology, the superego, the ideal ego, fantasy, the big Other, desire, jouissance, the object petit a, the Real, the Symbolic and so on.
I now got a better idea of what these concepts mean, although I probably still couldn't explain them to someone else. Even though it was a difficult read, it still was quite fun due to Žižek's unique style.