Reading Lacan

Rating:
Summary: Fallen state of literary criticism
Review: Gallop's work is precisely what's wrong with modern literary criticism. Rather than explicating Lacan, providing an interpretation of Lacan useful to those not willing to sift through the myriad volumes of Lacan's writings, Gallop instead focuses on proving how clever she is, how she can excise a text with the best of them. However, all her semantic exercises lead the reader nowhere. She clearly knows her subject matter, for which i assign two stars to the work, but the work itself is useless fluff. I can only assume Gallop wrote this to further her career at some univeristy. I wonder, however, when she was writing this, if a moment passed where she doubted if she even cared. I know i didn't. All those years of study, all that time disecting Lacan in French, and Gallop can do no better than this? Perhaps, though, that's Gallop's point. Since, according to Lacan, the unconscious is constructed by the Other as language, Gallop merely wishes to prove that the Other was ultimately responsible for this work.

Potential buyer beware. You'd be better served to read any Slavoj Zizek work or Fink's The Lacanian Subject, both of whom provide incredibly insightful commentary on Lacan without trying to prove their own cleverness. Ok, maybe Zizek attempts to be a bit too clever, but he's fun to read. And you get something out of his work when you're finished.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent tool for trying to make sense of Lacan
Review: Phallus, Oedipus, and everything else you need to know to understanding Lacan. Gallop offers a very detailed examination of Lacan's works, giving the reader ideas on how to approach Lacan. The book can either be read before reading Lacan or after reading Lacan, either way it is a very helpful book.