Reddit reviews How to Read Lacan (How to Read)

Is there a particular reasons you're drawn to Lacanian psychoanalysis? Your teacher is right that Lacan is notoriously dense and confusing, partly because he has no major tome. Most of his philosophy comes from his seminars and a few keys texts. Moreover, you're going to have a difficult time understanding Lacan if you don't have a pretty solid foundation in Freud. If you want to put your feet in the waters, check out The Instance of the Letter in the Unconscious; it's not his most approachable text, but it's his most cited, and it will give you a taste of what you're in for. If you're interested in language and psychology, you might try Freud's A Note Upon the Mystic Writing Pad first, or if you're just into psychoanalysis and literature, [The Uncanny] (http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/freud1.pdf) is widely cited and Freud himself derives his theory from reading literature. If none of those are up your alley and you're still interested in Lacan, I'd start with secondary sources--it's what most graduate students would do. Zizek's Understanding Lacan is written to be approachable from a non-specialist's perspective.

I hope that helps, and kudos for going to secondary sources at all. Don't be discouraged by Lacan--most Ph.D.'s wouldn't hesitate to call him one of the--if not the--most difficult philosophers to make heads or tails of, and his reputation is always in such flux that most don't bother.

Hello goirish2200.

As someone who is obsessed with Lacan and Derrida I highly recommend that you do not read their works directly. Why? Because they are extremely heavy for someone like you, who is not exposed to the literary terminologies/theory.(I also personally find it absurd that people here are recommending you to read excerpts of Lacan/Derrida's work).

You will, I can guarantee, find yourself frustrated with their works and waste your time trying to decipher their writing.

Where to start then?

For Derrida there are two friendly books that you should check out before even considering reading his works:

Introducing Derrida by Jeff Collins and Derrida For Beginners by Jim Powell

As you read those two books constantly refer to this book when you encounter words that you do not understand:A Derrida Dictionary by Niall Lucy

Some hardcore Derrida fans will criticize me for linking you this book since any kind of Dictionary defining Derrida's terms will be controversial(for example, every time someone uses the word "deconstruction" everyone's eye brows raise up because there is technically no definition to what deconstruction is).

After reading these two books then maybe you can tackle The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Derrida

This will be plenty of reading for you to do on Derrida.

"Introducing Lacan" and "Lacan for Beginners" are also books that you should check out. "The Cambridge Introduction to Lacan" should be the next book you tackle after it or How to Read Lacan by Zizek and Critchley

Remember my friend, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a godly resource that you should always refer to.

Also, don't be scared of Wikipedia; you should go there first. If you have no idea who Saussure is, then read up on him before even reading Derrida.

Have fun! :]