The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire (Royaumont): 19th to 23rd September 1960: Jacques Lacan
by Julia Evans on September 23, 1960
‘The Subversion of the subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious’. Jacques Lacan’s contribution to a conference entitled ‘La Dialectique’, held at Royaumont 19-23 September, 1960
NOTE: Links to commentaries & further reading given below.
Published in English:
a) p293- 325, Chapter NINE of Écrits: A Selection, translated by Alan Sheridan, published by Tavistock/Routledge, 1977.
Available here (together with traces of my pencil notes added in the mid-1990s)
See Translator’s note, Bibliography Note : 1977 : Alan Sheridan & Classified index of the major concepts, Commentary on the graphs : 1966 : Jacques-Alain Miller : from ‘Écrits: a selection’ or here
b) p671-702 of ‘Jacques Lacan: Écrits:The first complete edition in English’, translated by Bruce Fink, published by W. W, Norton & Company, 2006.
c) p793-827, ‘Subversion du sujet et dialectique du désir dans l’inconscient freudien’, Écrits, Paris: du Seuil, 1966
NOTE: For further commentaries see below
Quote from the introduction to this text
in the Alan Sheridan translation, op. cit.
This text represents my contribution to a conference entitled ‘La Dialectique’, held at Royaumont 19-23 September, 1960. The conference was organised by the ‘Colloques philosophiques international’, and I was invited to participate by Jean Wahl.
This conference preceded by a month the Congrès de Bonneval, at which I delivered my text, ‘Position de l’inconscient’. The later text was very much a development of this (earlier) one, and its publication serves to demonstrate that my teaching has always been ahead of my published work.
(The graph reproduced here first appeared in my seminar on the formations of the unconscious. It was worked out with particular relation to the structure of the witticism (JE adds: from die Witt as in Freud?) which, to the surprise of my audience, I took as a point of departure. An account of this seminar, which took place in the first term of the year 1957-1958, appeared, together with the graph, in a number of the ‘Bulletin de psychology.) end quote
Commentary
Further information and general commentaries : Translator’s note, Bibliography Note : 1977 : Alan Sheridan & Classified index of the major concepts, Commentary on the graphs : 1966 : Jacques-Alain Miller : from ‘Écrits: a selection’ or here
Ch 9 of A Reader’s Guide to Écrits : The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious: p355 – 414:
Available here :
Further information & general commentary : A Reader’s Guide to Écrits: 1982: John P. Muller and William J. Richardson or here
Further information
Écrits : 1966 : Jacques Lacan or here
Autres Écrits: 2001 : Jacques Lacan or here
Posts for the “Lacan Jacques” category : Available here
Posts for the “Freud Sigmund”category : Available here
Posts for the “Dreams” category : Available here
Posts for the “Topology and the Lacanian clinic” category : Available here
Posts for the ‘Lacanian Transmission’ category are available here
