Lacan for Beginners (Writers and Readers Beginners Documentary Comic Book)

Rating:
Summary: Making the complex simple... or at least less difficult
Review: Even among French philosophers Lacan has a reputation for being impenetrable; folks who attended his lectures sometimes were unsure what language he was speaking! Despite this (or perhaps because of this) Lacan is among the most influential psychoanalysts, particularly in Europe and South America. He's also a major philosopher and cultural critic, whose ideas have played a major role in the work of people like Barthes and Zizek. If you want to understand Lacan, you're probably going to need a guide ... and Phillip Hill's *Lacan for Beginners* is an excellent place to start.

Lacan's theories of psychoanalysis are strongly influenced by Freud, but also incorporated ideas from Socrates, Saussure, mathematics, and just about anything else that struck his fancy. Hill does a thorough job of discussing not just Lacan's Freudian roots but also his debt to the Socratic method, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Hegel's slave-master dichotomy, and the abtruse mathematics of topology. All this can help you follow the twists and turns of Lacanian thinking, and penetrate the dense underbrush of his verbiage.

As with other "For Beginners" books, the illustrations are a mixed bag. Some are cute, while others are simply regrettable. Most help to illustrate and clarify some of the points raised, while others are merely cute, or, worse, unfunny jokes. The Max Ernst-influenced collages are clever but often serve little purpose, while multiple fonts smeared on one page evoke the bad old days of 90s zine design. My partner suggests that someone on the Writers and Readers staff study "Drawing for Beginners" and "Graphic Design for Beginners." Still, if you are at all interested in Lacan this volume will probably provide you with the best possible introduction... and you'll have little luck in Lacanian self-study without a guide.

Rating:
Summary: Making the complex simple... or at least less difficult
Review: Even among French philosophers Lacan has a reputation for being impenetrable; folks who attended his lectures sometimes were unsure what language he was speaking! Despite this (or perhaps because of this) Lacan is among the most influential psychoanalysts, particularly in Europe and South America. He's also a major philosopher and cultural critic, whose ideas have played a major role in the work of people like Barthes and Zizek. If you want to understand Lacan, you're probably going to need a guide ... and Phillip Hill's *Lacan for Beginners* is an excellent place to start.

Lacan's theories of psychoanalysis are strongly influenced by Freud, but also incorporated ideas from Socrates, Saussure, mathematics, and just about anything else that struck his fancy. Hill does a thorough job of discussing not just Lacan's Freudian roots but also his debt to the Socratic method, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Hegel's slave-master dichotomy, and the abtruse mathematics of topology. All this can help you follow the twists and turns of Lacanian thinking, and penetrate the dense underbrush of his verbiage.

As with other "For Beginners" books, the illustrations are a mixed bag. Some are cute, while others are simply regrettable. Most help to illustrate and clarify some of the points raised, while others are merely cute, or, worse, unfunny jokes. The Max Ernst-influenced collages are clever but often serve little purpose, while multiple fonts smeared on one page evoke the bad old days of 90s zine design. My partner suggests that someone on the Writers and Readers staff study "Drawing for Beginners" and "Graphic Design for Beginners." Still, if you are at all interested in Lacan this volume will probably provide you with the best possible introduction... and you'll have little luck in Lacanian self-study without a guide.

Rating:
Summary: Useful but sometimes difficult
Review: The "...for Beginners" books all provide a fine introduction to their topics, enough to get one started thinking along the right lines at least. This volume is no different. My only complaint is that it is a bit abstruse at times; it may take more than one reading. Alas, this book is the only 'Lacan for beginners' sort of book that I know of, so if you want an introduction to his thought then this is really your only option.

Rating:
Summary: Useful but sometimes difficult
Review: The "...for Beginners" books all provide a fine introduction to their topics, enough to get one started thinking along the right lines at least. This volume is no different. My only complaint is that it is a bit abstruse at times; it may take more than one reading. Alas, this book is the only 'Lacan for beginners' sort of book that I know of, so if you want an introduction to his thought then this is really your only option.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Introductory Text from Writers and Readers
Review: This is a true gem from the Writer and Readers series. Complete with chapter notes, glossary, and index, Philip Hill expounds, not only using his reading of the French philosopher-psychologist, but also illustrates the master's concepts using the criticism of Lacan's peers (Freud and Jung) as well as many noted Lacan scholars. Lacan's theories are laden with difficult terminology ("meconnaissance" and "jouissance" for example) that Hill explains and demonstrates various humorous epigrams ("Life is a sexually transmitted disease. Death is the cure") in order to give a clearer explication of Lacan's ideas. Considering that one must have a semi-stable background in psychology, linguistics, as well as philosophy in order to get an inkling of the French structuralist's theories, Hill expounds while the illustrator, David Leach, comically depicts.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Introductory Text from Writers and Readers
Review: This is a true gem from the Writer and Readers series. Complete with chapter notes, glossary, and index, Philip Hill expounds, not only using his reading of the French philosopher-psychologist, but also illustrates the master's concepts using the criticism of Lacan's peers (Freud and Jung) as well as many noted Lacan scholars. Lacan's theories are laden with difficult terminology ("meconnaissance" and "jouissance" for example) that Hill explains and demonstrates various humorous epigrams ("Life is a sexually transmitted disease. Death is the cure") in order to give a clearer explication of Lacan's ideas. Considering that one must have a semi-stable background in psychology, linguistics, as well as philosophy in order to get an inkling of the French structuralist's theories, Hill expounds while the illustrator, David Leach, comically depicts.