This paper examines the decision within Lacanian psychoanalysis to formalize the theory of psychoanalytic praxis. The intrinsic problematics of analysis, the place of authority, unconscious knowledge, the roles of embodiment and representation, and singularity are addressed as challenges that psychoanalytic theory must address. It is argued that psychoanalysis cannot locate its autonomy from or complicity with hegemonic cultural discourses without a clear sense of the specificity of its practice. This is addressed in detail. Part of Lacan's formulation of the four discourses was in fact to situate just such an interface founded in the structure of speaking and its remains and located between a separation from and enmeshment in social and cultural representations and arrangements. In light of this effort, I question the rather chilly reception of Lacan's formalization by North American and anglophone analysts in terms of the role of affect, the place of norms and knowledge, and issues about theory.
Althusser, L. (2001). Lenin and philosophy and other essays (B. Brewster, Trans.). New York: Monthly Review.
2.
American Academy of Psychoanalysis, National Membership Committee on Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work, Division of Psychoanalysis, American Psychological Association, American Psychoanalytic Association. (2001). Standards of psychoanalytic education . Psychologist Psychoanalyst, XIV(1), 8-11.
3.
Apollon, W. , Bergeron, D. , & Cantin, L. (2002). After Lacan: Clinical practice and the subject of the unconscious ( R. Hughes & K. Malone , Eds.). Albany: State University of New York Press.
4.
Appelo, T. (2005, May). Left us pray . reed, pp. 18-19.
5.
Brousse, H. (2006). Common markets and segregation. In J. Clemens & R. Grigg (Eds.), Jacques Lacan and the other side of psychoanalysis (pp. 254-263). Durham, NC: Duke University Press,
6.
Butler, J. (2002). Is kinship always already heterosexual?differences, 13, 14-44.
7.
Cantlie, A. (1997). Discussion of papers on sexuality. In B. Burgoyne & M. Sullivan (Eds.), Klein-Lacan dialogues (pp. 125-131). New York: The Other Press.
8.
Clark, A. (1997). Being there: Putting brain, body and world together again. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
9.
Demos, J. (1997). Oedipus and America: Historical perspectives on the reception of psychoanalysis in the United States. In J. Pfister & N. Schnog (Eds.), Inventing the psychological (pp. 63-79). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. (Original work published 1978)
10.
Fischer, N. (2004). Notes from a lame duck . The American Psychoanalyst, 38, 3 .
11.
Freud, S. (1950). Postscript to a question of lay analysis. In J. Strachey (Ed.), Collected papers (Vol. V, pp. 205-214). London: Hogarth. (Original work published in 1927)
12.
Freud, S. (1958). Recommendations to physicians practising psychoanalysis . In J. Stratchey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 12, pp. 11-120). London: Hogarth. (Original work published 1912).
13.
Guéguen, P.-G. (2006). The intimate, the extimate, and psychoanalytic discourse. In J. Clemens & R. Grigg (Eds.), Jacques Lacan and the other side of psychoanalysis (pp. 263-273). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
14.
Jacoby, R. (1983). The repression of psychoanalysis: Otto Fenichel and the political Freudians. New York: Basic Books.
15.
Lacan, J. (1970). Of structure as an inmixing of an otherness prerequisite to any subject whatever. In R. Macksey & E. Donato (Eds.), The structuralist controversy (pp. 186-200). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
16.
Lacan, J. (1972). Lacan in Italia 1953-1978/ En Italie Lacan 1953-1978 . Milan: La Salamandra. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from: http://www.edizionisic.it/SITO%202003/LACAN-ITALIA.pdf.
17.
Lacan, J. (1973). L'Étourdit . Scilicet, 4, 5-52.
18.
Lacan, J. (1990). Television (D. Hollier, R. Krauss, & A. Michelson, Trans.; J. Copjec , Ed.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1974)
19.
Lacan, J. (2006a). Variations on the standard treatment. In B. Fink (Trans.), Écrits. New York: Norton. (Original work published 1955)
20.
Lacan, J. (2006b). The seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book XVII: The other side of psychoanalysis (R. Grigg, Trans.). New York : Norton.
21.
Laplanche, J. , & Pontalis, J.B. (2004). The language of psychoanalysis (D. Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). London: Karnac. (Original work published 1973)
22.
Laurent , É. (2006). Symptom and discourse. In J. Clemens & R. Grigg (Eds), Jacques Lacan and the other side of psychoanalysis (pp. 229-253). Durham, NC : Duke University Press.
23.
Lesser, R. , & Schoenberg, E. (1999). That obscure subject of desire. New York: Routledge.
24.
McGowan, T. (2004). The end of dissatisfaction? Jacques Lacan and the emerging society of enjoyment. Albany: State University of New York Press.
25.
Mieli, P. (1999). Some preliminary remarks. In J. Houis , P. Mieli , & M. Stafford (Eds.), Being human: The technological extensions of the body (pp. 163-188). New York: Agincourt/ Marsiliio .
26.
Mieli, P. (2003) Letter to our American colleagues. Section V, Division 39, Psychoanalysis, APA, writings. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from: http://www.sectionfive.org/date/2003/1/.
27.
Miller, J.-A. (2005a, Spring). A and a in clinical structures . The Symptom, 6, 1-15. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from: http://www.lacan.com/symptom6_articles/miller.html (Original work published 1986)
28.
Miller, J.-A. (2005). The pathology of democracy. London: Karnac
29.
Miller, J.-A. (2006). On shame. In J. Clemens & R. Grigg (Eds.), Jacques Lacan and the other side of psychoanalysis (pp. 11-28). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
30.
Savaiano, S. (2004, May). Tempering terror . Preliminary paper presented at Après Coup at the No. II Congresso Internaciional de Convergencia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
31.
The search for re-kindled desire shifts from talk to testosterone . (2005, June 5). The New York Times, Section 15, pp. 1 , 7 .
32.
Soler, C. (2006). What Lacan said about women. (J. Holland, Trans.). New York: The Other Press.
33.
Temperley, J. (1997). Discussion of papers on sexuality. In B. Burgoyne & M. Sullivan (Eds.), Klein-Lacan dialogues (pp. 125-131). New York: The Other Press.
34.
Widlöcher, D. (2003). The president's column: State recognition of psychoanalysis . International Psychoanalysis, 12(2), 5 .
