Philadelphia Lacan Study Group

Wednesday, October 30, 2024@7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 10/30/24. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, September 25, 2024@7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 09/25/24. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, May 29, 2024@7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 05/29/24. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, April 24, 2024 @7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 04/24/24. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, March 27, 2024@7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 03/27/24. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, February 28, 24@7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 02/28/24. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, January 29, 2025@7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 01/29/25. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, 01/24/24@7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 01/24/24. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, November 29, 2023 @7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 11/29/23. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, October,25 2023 @7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 10/25/23. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 @7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday 9/27/23. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, July 26, 2023 @7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday July 26, 2023. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, May 31, 2023 @7:00 pm ET
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday May 31, 2023. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, April 26, 2023
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday April 26, 2023. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, March 1, 2023
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday March 3, 2023. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, Wednesday January 25, 2023. 7:00 pm -8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, December 7, 2022. 7:00 pm -8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday October 26, 2022. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday September 28, 2022. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, May 25, 2022. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, April 27, 2022. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

Wednesday, April 26, 2023
THE ABSENT-MINDED PERFORMATIVE—Online Seminar
L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. QUESTIONS? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday April 26, 2023. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, March 23, 2022. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, February 23, 2022. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, January 26, 2022. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, June 23, 2021. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, May 26, 2021. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.
WHEN? Wednesday, April 28, 2021. 7-8:30 pm EST via Zoom

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday April 7, 2021, 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST

L’Etourdit (1972) is a notoriously difficult text that poses crucial questions for Lacan’s later elaborations. In an essay that foregrounds the dimension of saying and its performative power, Lacan interrogates what he calls the subjective state of dizziness (being étourdi). Tackling all the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” he introduces the Unconscious as “half-saying,” a saying that makes one dizzy but also willing to hear through one’s deafness:
“I want to note that here is only a collecting together – ceaselessly fed by the testimony given to me by those whose ears I open – collecting what anyone can get from the mouth of analysands provided at least that they are authorized to assume the place of the analyst.”
Here, the collecting process (recueil) also becomes a welcoming process (accueil). What can we learn about authority, truth, analytic training, sexual difference, and the Real from a reading of L’Etourdit?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday March 3, 2021 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST

DOES AUTHORITY HAVE A GENDER?
Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. How can the principle of self-authorization be applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? Is Lacan implying a feminine position for the analyst?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday February 3, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST

“These days we know less about the feeling of hatred than in times when man was more open to his destiny….These days subjects do not have to shoulder the burden of experience of hatred in its most consuming forms. And why? Because our civilization is itself sufficiently one of hatred. Isn’t the path for the race to destruction really rather well marked out for us? Hatred is clothed in our everyday discourse under many guises, it meets with such extraordinary easy rationalizations.”
Jacques Lacan, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book I: Freud’s Papers on Technique.

Now more than ever, when the United States is reckoning with racism, the Lacanian notion of the act resonates with its ethical implications. It asks us to  assume our responsibility for the unconscious determinations of our position. Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday January 6, 2021 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST

“These days we know less about the feeling of hatred than in times when man was more open to his destiny….These days subjects do not have to shoulder the burden of experience of hatred in its most consuming forms. And why? Because our civilization is itself sufficiently one of hatred. Isn’t the path for the race to destruction really rather well marked out for us? Hatred is clothed in our everyday discourse under many guises, it meets with such extraordinary easy rationalizations.”
Jacques Lacan, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book I: Freud’s Papers on Technique.

Now more than ever, when the United States is reckoning with racism, the Lacanian notion of the act resonates with its ethical implications, first by assuming responsibility for the unconscious determinations of one’s position. Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday November 18, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EDT

“These days we know less about the feeling of hatred than in times when man was more open to his destiny….These days subjects do not have to shoulder the burden of experience of hatred in its most consuming forms. And why? Because our civilization is itself sufficiently one of hatred. Isn’t the path for the race to destruction really rather well marked out for us? Hatred is clothed in our everyday discourse under many guises, it meets with such extraordinary easy rationalizations.”
Jacques Lacan, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book I: Freud’s Papers on Technique.

Now more than ever, when the United States is reckoning with racism, the Lacanian notion of the act resonates with its ethical implications. It asks us to  assume our responsibility for the unconscious determinations of our position. Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday November 4, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST

“These days we know less about the feeling of hatred than in times when man was more open to his destiny….These days subjects do not have to shoulder the burden of experience of hatred in its most consuming forms. And why? Because our civilization is itself sufficiently one of hatred. Isn’t the path for the race to destruction really rather well marked out for us? Hatred is clothed in our everyday discourse under many guises, it meets with such extraordinary easy rationalizations.”
Jacques Lacan, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book I: Freud’s Papers on Technique.

Now more than ever, when the United States is reckoning with racism, the Lacanian notion of the act resonates with its ethical implications. It asks us to assume our responsibility for the unconscious determinations of our position. Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday December 2, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EDT

“These days we know less about the feeling of hatred than in times when man was more open to his destiny….These days subjects do not have to shoulder the burden of experience of hatred in its most consuming forms. And why? Because our civilization is itself sufficiently one of hatred. Isn’t the path for the race to destruction really rather well marked out for us? Hatred is clothed in our everyday discourse under many guises, it meets with such extraordinary easy rationalizations.”
Jacques Lacan, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book I: Freud’s Papers on Technique.

Now more than ever, when the United States is reckoning with racism, the Lacanian notion of the act resonates with its ethical implications, first by assuming responsibility for the unconscious determinations of one’s position. Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday July 29, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EDT

06/24/20 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm EDT

Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: Host (Lew Baum) contacts for questions or problems: 215-727-8304 or LJBaum@verizon.net. for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday JUNE 24, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EDT

Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online (Zoom). Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday May 27, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EDT

Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

WHERE? This meeting will take place online. Email: contact@lacangroup.org for connection details.
WHEN? Wednesday April 29, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm EDT

Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? THIS MEETING WILL BE ONLINE. Email: contact@lacangroup.org for details
Thursday March 26, and Wednesday April 29, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm

Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Wednesday February 26, March 25, and April 29, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm

Lacan offers a controversial formula for analytic training: “The analyst’s authorization derives from her— or himself alone.” The self-authorization of the analyst does not mean that anyone can become an analyst but it entails a passage, a transformative crossing that causes a subjective change, a process linked to transference and not to bureaucracy. Self-authorization, placed in an area of ambiguity between author (the creator of a work) and authority (an agent of power), reveals a desire that does not fully depend on the Other. In 1974, Lacan reformulates this idea when he specifies that analysts authorize themselves with “some others”. He thus extends the idea of the analyst’s self-authorization by stating that one’s authorization as a sexed being comes from oneself. Why is the radical principle of self-authorization underpinning the training of psychoanalysts applied to matters of sexual identity? Is Lacan putting forward a new ethics of sexual difference? What are the implications for the transmission of psychoanalysis?

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Reading list? Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Wednesday January 29, February 26, March 18, and April 29, 2020 7:00 to 8:30 pm

Please join us for our first FIDGET forum on November 13 @ 7 PM.
Lacan: The Screen Stage will be co-hosted with the Philadelphia Lacan Study Group, and will feature a screening of the film “Rendez-vous Chez Lacan” (2011), with discussion afterwards. This event is free of cost, and includes popcorn! Wine and beer available. Stick around for a possible late-night screening of “Lacan Parle” (1972), including a 30 minute lecture by Lacan made famous by a “situationist” interruption.

Rendez-vous Chez Lacan (2011):

This hour-long documentary gives unprecedented insight into the remarkable working habits of one of last century’s most significant intellectual figures, via interviews with Lacan’s patients, some of whom became well-known analysts in their own right. Directed by Gérard Miller, brother of Lacan’s son-in-law, Jacques Alain-Miller; the film also features interviews with Lacan’s daughter, Judith Miller.
Location: FIDGET, 1714 N. Mascher St. PHILADELPHIA PA 19122

Event organized by Colin Hartz and Megan Bridge

LACAN’S DIZZY SPELLS: From Situation to L’étourdit
Session III, April 17, 2019

“You have satisfied me, littleman. You understood, that’s what was required. Go now, there is not too much étourdit for it to return after being halfsaid in the afternoon (l’après midit). Thanks to the hand that will respond to you if you call her Antigone, the same hand that can tear you apart because I sphynxe of it my notall (pastoute), then evenings you will even make yourself the equal of Tiresias, thus like him, because you played the Other, you’ll divine what I said to you.”

Jacques Lacan, L’étourdit, p. 468. Autres Ecrits. Paris: Seuil, 2001.

This Seminar will start with Lacan’s critical survey of the state of psychoanalysis in the 1950s, a critique that has remained urgent today, to move to a later and admittedly puzzling text from 1972, “L’étourdit,” in which some of the questions posed in the earlier text are revisited. In “The Situation of Psychoanalysis and the Training of Psychoanalysts in 1956” Lacan denounces the deafness of most psychoanalysts who neglect the power of language, whereas “L’étourdit” tackles the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” which entails a direct challenge to the psychoanalytic institutions.

The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

LACAN’S DIZZY SPELLS: From Situation to L’étourdit

Session II, March 13, 2019

“You have satisfied me, littleman. You understood, that’s what was required. Go now, there is not too much étourdit for it to return after being halfsaid in the afternoon (l’après midit). Thanks to the hand that will respond to you if you call her Antigone, the same hand that can tear you apart because I sphynxe of it my notall (pastoute), then evenings you will even make yourself the equal of Tiresias, thus like him, because you played the Other, you’ll divine what I said to you.”

Jacques Lacan, L’étourdit, p. 468. Autres Ecrits. Paris: Seuil, 2001.

This Seminar will start with Lacan’s critical survey of the state of psychoanalysis in the 1950s, a critique that has remained urgent today, to move to a later and admittedly puzzling text from 1972, “L’étourdit,” in which some of the questions posed in the earlier text are revisited. In “The Situation of Psychoanalysis and the Training of Psychoanalysts in 1956,” Lacan denounces the deafness of most psychoanalysts who neglect the power of language, whereas “L’étourdit” tackles the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” which entails a direct challenge to the psychoanalytic institutions.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s writings. The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

LACAN’S DIZZY SPELLS: From Situation to L’étourdit
Session I, February 13, 2019

“You have satisfied me, littleman. You understood, that’s what was required. Go now, there is not too much étourdit for it to return after being halfsaid in the afternoon (l’après midit). Thanks to the hand that will respond to you if you call her Antigone, the same hand that can tear you apart because I sphynxe of it my notall (pastoute), then evenings you will even make yourself the equal of Tiresias, thus like him, because you played the Other, you’ll divine what I said to you.”

Jacques Lacan, L’étourdit, p. 468. Autres Ecrits. Paris: Seuil, 2001.

This Seminar will start with Lacan’s critical survey of the state of psychoanalysis in the 1950s, a critique that has remained urgent today, to move to a later and admittedly puzzling text from 1972, “L’étourdit,” in which some of the questions posed in the earlier text are revisited. In “The Situation of Psychoanalysis in 1956,” Lacan denounces the deafness of most psychoanalysts who neglect the power of language, whereas “L’étourdit” tackles the implications of “saying” in the “talking cure,” which entails a direct challenge to the psychoanalytic institutions.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s writings. The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

“ I am hereby announcing what this year shall be my examination of art. In what way is artifice expressly able to target what presents itself in first instance as a symptom? In what way can art—the artisanal—foil, as it were, what imposes as a symptom? Namely, truth.” Jacques Lacan, Seminar Le Sinthome, Book XXIII Session I, 18 November 1975

When Lacan came up with his coining of the sinthome, he proposed a new kind of symptom that was non-pathological and had a function analogous to that of art. Lacan discovered it in the writings of Joyce. Joyce’s art was meant to compensate for a defect in his subjective structure, which saved him from madness. The sinthome as art repairs faults in the psyche and works as a supplement. The sinthome is art taken in an extended sense because it organizes a know-how, a singular knowledge that cannot be transferred to another person but holds individual subjects and prevents them from falling apart.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s Seminar Le Sinthome Book XXIII.
(Jacques Lacan, The Sinthome, Book XXII, Ed. J. A. Miller, trans. A. R. Price. Cambridge and Malden MA: Polity, 2016.)
The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

“ I am hereby announcing what this year shall be my examination of art. In what way is artifice expressly able to target what presents itself in first instance as a symptom? In what way can art—the artisanal—foil, as it were, what imposes as a symptom? Namely, truth.” Jacques Lacan, Seminar Le Sinthome, Book XXIII Session I, 18 November 1975

When Lacan came up with his coining of the sinthome, he proposed a new kind of symptom that was non-pathological and had a function analogous to that of art. Lacan discovered it in the writings of Joyce. Joyce’s art was meant to compensate for a defect in his subjective structure, which saved him from madness. The sinthome as art repairs faults in the psyche and works as a supplement. The sinthome is art taken in an extended sense because it organizes a know-how, a singular knowledge that cannot be transferred to another person but holds individual subjects and prevents them from falling apart.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s Seminar Le Sinthome Book XXIII.
(Jacques Lacan, The Sinthome, Book XXII, Ed. J. A. Miller, trans. A. R. Price. Cambridge and Malden MA: Polity, 2016.)
The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

“ I am hereby announcing what this year shall be my examination of art. In what way is artifice expressly able to target what presents itself in first instance as a symptom? In what way can art—the artisanal—foil, as it were, what imposes as a symptom? Namely, truth.” Jacques Lacan, Seminar Le Sinthome, Book XXIII Session I, 18 November 1975

When Lacan came up with his coining of the sinthome, he proposed a new kind of symptom that was non-pathological and had a function analogous to that of art. Lacan discovered it in the writings of Joyce. Joyce’s art was meant to compensate for a defect in his subjective structure, which saved him from madness. The sinthome as art repairs faults in the psyche and works as a supplement. The sinthome is art taken in an extended sense because it organizes a know-how, a singular knowledge that cannot be transferred to another person but holds individual subjects and prevents them from falling apart.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s Seminar Le Sinthome Book XXIII.
(Jacques Lacan, The Sinthome, Book XXII, Ed. J. A. Miller, trans. A. R. Price. Cambridge and Malden MA: Polity, 2016.)
The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

“ I am hereby announcing what this year shall be my examination of art. In what way is artifice expressly able to target what presents itself in first instance as a symptom? In what way can art—the artisanal—foil, as it were, what imposes as a symptom? Namely, truth.” Jacques Lacan, Seminar Le Sinthome, Book XXIII Session I, 18 November 1975

When Lacan came up with his coining of the sinthome, he proposed a new kind of symptom that was non-pathological and had a function analogous to that of art. Lacan discovered it in the writings of Joyce. Joyce’s art was meant to compensate for a defect in his subjective structure, which saved him from madness. The sinthome as art repairs faults in the psyche and works as a supplement. The sinthome is art taken in an extended sense because it organizes a know-how, a singular knowledge that cannot be transferred to another person but holds individual subjects and prevents them from falling apart.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s Seminar Le Sinthome Book XXIII.
(Jacques Lacan, The Sinthome, Book XXII, Ed. J. A. Miller, trans. A. R. Price. Cambridge and Malden MA: Polity, 2016.)
The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Dolto’s Dominique

“Dominique and I are the representatives of two worlds who have succeeded in communicating. We both had the gift of words; I was more fluent in the language of the many, he less. I was less distrustful of him than he was of me. Rightly or wrongly I thought that his habitus, described as psychotic, stood in his way of fulfilling his human creative destiny. By understanding him, I tried to help him in his struggle. The reader has read my testimony as a witness of this symbolic relationship, which captures one passing moment in the psychoanalytic research of our day, to which I wish to contribute.”

Françoise Dolto (1908-1988) pioneered psychoanalysis with children. A friend of Lacan’s, she is said to have been doing what he was talking about. Still today, Dolto’s work continues to push the boundaries of analysis inasmuch as she treats children as subjects from infancy to adolescence, clarifies the unique relationship between analyst and child-analysand free from societal and parental expectations, and demonstrates the dynamics of the unconscious.
During each meeting we will jointly read and discuss Dolto’s book. Participants are encourage to discuss clinical material, whether as scheduled case presentations or as illustrations of the reading material.

Location: Online
Dates 4th Saturday every month; 12-2:00 pm Eastern Time / September 2017 to June 2018
Free of charge
To join this online seminar contact: Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Magdalena Romanowicz magdalena.romanowicz6@gmail.com

Reading:
Dolto, D. (1973). Dominique: Analysis of an Adolescent. (I. Kats, Transl.). Outerbridge & Lazard; distributed by E.P. Dutton. (Original work published 1971) Reprint: New York: Condor Books.

“ I am hereby announcing what this year shall be my examination of art. In what way is artifice expressly able to target what presents itself in first instance as a symptom? In what way can art—the artisanal—foil, as it were, what imposes as a symptom? Namely, truth.” Jacques Lacan, Seminar Le Sinthome, Book XXIII Session I, 18 November 1975

When Lacan came up with his coining of the sinthome, he proposed a new kind of symptom that was non-pathological and had a function analogous to that of art. Lacan discovered it in the writings of Joyce. Joyce’s art was meant to compensate for a defect in his subjective structure, which saved him from madness. The sinthome as art repairs faults in the psyche and works as a supplement. The sinthome is art taken in an extended sense because it organizes a know-how, a singular knowledge that cannot be transferred to another person but holds individual subjects and prevents them from falling apart.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s Seminar Le Sinthome Book XXIII.
(Jacques Lacan, The Sinthome, Book XXII, Ed. J. A. Miller, trans. A. R. Price. Cambridge and Malden MA: Polity, 2016.)
The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Dolto’s Dominique

“Dominique and I are the representatives of two worlds who have succeeded in communicating. We both had the gift of words; I was more fluent in the language of the many, he less. I was less distrustful of him than he was of me. Rightly or wrongly I thought that his habitus, described as psychotic, stood in his way of fulfilling his human creative destiny. By understanding him, I tried to help him in his struggle. The reader has read my testimony as a witness of this symbolic relationship, which captures one passing moment in the psychoanalytic research of our day, to which I wish to contribute.”

Françoise Dolto (1908-1988) pioneered psychoanalysis with children. A friend of Lacan’s, she is said to have been doing what he was talking about. Still today, Dolto’s work continues to push the boundaries of analysis inasmuch as she treats children as subjects from infancy to adolescence, clarifies the unique relationship between analyst and child-analysand free from societal and parental expectations, and demonstrates the dynamics of the unconscious.
During each meeting we will jointly read and discuss Dolto’s book. Participants are encourage to discuss clinical material, whether as scheduled case presentations or as illustrations of the reading material.

Location: Online
Dates 4th Saturday every month; 12-2:00 pm Eastern Time / September 2017 to June 2018
Free of charge
To join this online seminar contact: Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Magdalena Romanowicz magdalena.romanowicz6@gmail.com

Reading:
Dolto, D. (1973). Dominique: Analysis of an Adolescent. (I. Kats, Transl.). Outerbridge & Lazard; distributed by E.P. Dutton. (Original work published 1971) Reprint: New York: Condor Books.

“ I am hereby announcing what this year shall be my examination of art. In what way is artifice expressly able to target what presents itself in first instance as a symptom? In what way can art—the artisanal—foil, as it were, what imposes as a symptom? Namely, truth.” Jacques Lacan, Seminar Le Sinthome, Book XXIII Session I, 18 November 1975

When Lacan came up with his coining of the sinthome, he proposed a new kind of symptom that was non-pathological and had a function analogous to that of art. Lacan discovered it in the writings of Joyce. Joyce’s art was meant to compensate for a defect in his subjective structure, which saved him from madness. The sinthome as art repairs faults in the psyche and works as a supplement. The sinthome is art taken in an extended sense because it organizes a know-how, a singular knowledge that cannot be transferred to another person but holds individual subjects and prevents them from falling apart.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s Seminar Le Sinthome Book XXIII.
(Jacques Lacan, The Sinthome, Book XXII, Ed. J. A. Miller, trans. A. R. Price. Cambridge and Malden MA: Polity, 2016.)
The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Dolto’s Dominique

“Dominique and I are the representatives of two worlds who have succeeded in communicating. We both had the gift of words; I was more fluent in the language of the many, he less. I was less distrustful of him than he was of me. Rightly or wrongly I thought that his habitus, described as psychotic, stood in his way of fulfilling his human creative destiny. By understanding him, I tried to help him in his struggle. The reader has read my testimony as a witness of this symbolic relationship, which captures one passing moment in the psychoanalytic research of our day, to which I wish to contribute.”

Françoise Dolto (1908-1988) pioneered psychoanalysis with children. A friend of Lacan’s, she is said to have been doing what he was talking about. Still today, Dolto’s work continues to push the boundaries of analysis inasmuch as she treats children as subjects from infancy to adolescence, clarifies the unique relationship between analyst and child-analysand free from societal and parental expectations, and demonstrates the dynamics of the unconscious.
During each meeting we will jointly read and discuss Dolto’s book. Participants are encourage to discuss clinical material, whether as scheduled case presentations or as illustrations of the reading material.

Location: Online
Dates 4th Saturday every month; 12-2:00 pm Eastern Time / September 2017 to June 2018
Free of charge
To join this online seminar contact: Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Magdalena Romanowicz magdalena.romanowicz6@gmail.com

Reading:
Dolto, D. (1973). Dominique: Analysis of an Adolescent. (I. Kats, Transl.). Outerbridge & Lazard; distributed by E.P. Dutton. (Original work published 1971) Reprint: New York: Condor Books.

“ I am hereby announcing what this year shall be my examination of art. In what way is artifice expressly able to target what presents itself in first instance as a symptom? In what way can art—the artisanal—foil, as it were, what imposes as a symptom? Namely, truth.” Jacques Lacan, Seminar Le Sinthome, Book XXIII Session I, 18 November 1975

When Lacan came up with his coining of the sinthome, he proposed a new kind of symptom that was non-pathological and had a function analogous to that of art. Lacan discovered it in the writings of Joyce. Joyce’s art was meant to compensate for a defect in his subjective structure, which saved him from madness. The sinthome as art repairs faults in the psyche and works as a supplement. The sinthome is art taken in an extended sense because it organizes a know-how, a singular knowledge that cannot be transferred to another person but holds individual subjects and prevents them from falling apart.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading and discussion of Lacan’s Seminar Le Sinthome Book XXIII.
(Jacques Lacan, The Sinthome, Book XXII, Ed. J. A. Miller, trans. A. R. Price. Cambridge and Malden MA: Polity, 2016.)
The reading seminars are an open forum for the discussion of psychoanalysis. Curated by Patricia Gherovici. Seminars are free and open to all. Questions? Email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Where? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Dolto’s Dominique

“Dominique and I are the representatives of two worlds who have succeeded in communicating. We both had the gift of words; I was more fluent in the language of the many, he less. I was less distrustful of him than he was of me. Rightly or wrongly I thought that his habitus, described as psychotic, stood in his way of fulfilling his human creative destiny. By understanding him, I tried to help him in his struggle. The reader has read my testimony as a witness of this symbolic relationship, which captures one passing moment in the psychoanalytic research of our day, to which I wish to contribute.”

Françoise Dolto (1908-1988) pioneered psychoanalysis with children. A friend of Lacan’s, she is said to have been doing what he was talking about. Still today, Dolto’s work continues to push the boundaries of analysis inasmuch as she treats children as subjects from infancy to adolescence, clarifies the unique relationship between analyst and child-analysand free from societal and parental expectations, and demonstrates the dynamics of the unconscious.
During each meeting we will jointly read and discuss Dolto’s book. Participants are encourage to discuss clinical material, whether as scheduled case presentations or as illustrations of the reading material.

Location: Online
Dates: 4th Saturday of every month; 12-2:00 pm Eastern Time / September 2017 to June 2018
Free of charge
To join this online seminar contact: Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Magdalena Romanowicz magdalena.romanowicz6@gmail.com

Reading:
Dolto, D. (1973). Dominique: Analysis of an Adolescent. (I. Kats, Transl.). Outerbridge & Lazard; distributed by E.P. Dutton. (Original work published 1971) Reprint: New York: Condor Books.

“A beautiful and clever girl of eighteen, belonging to a family of good standing, had aroused displeasure and concern in her parents by the devoted adoration with which she pursued a certain ‘society lady’ who was about ten years older than herself” (Freud, 1920, p. 147). So begins Sidonie’s analysis with Freud.
Her father brought her to see Freud with the hope that he could “fix” his daughter’s state of mind, after a serious suicide attempt. It must have been an end-of-the-rope decision for the father who did not hold psychoanalysis in high esteem. Freud never gave a name to his “Young Homosexual Woman,” as she became known, unlike all his other female patients. He published the case in 1920, twenty years after her analysis ended. This case provides a great opportunity to think through what psychoanalysis has to say about femininity, homosexuality, and technique.

We will start with a reading and a discussion of Freud’s case. Then we will move on to Lacan’s perspective, followed by other texts on the case. Chances are that we will encounter Lacan’s formula of sexuation! All attendees are encouraged to recommend additional reading material and to actively participate in this year-long seminar. The discussion of this case will include clinical conversations, and case presentations.

Location: Webex / On-line only
Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

In-person Seminar

In his 1969-1970 seminar (The Other Side of Psychoanalysis. Book XVII, Norton & Co: New York, 2007), Lacan puts forward his theory of the four discourses: hysteric, master, university, and analyst. We propose a close reading of seminar XVII. We will further our exploration with contemporary authors, and connect the impact of these discourses on contemporary events as well as our practice as clinicians. If time allows, we will study Lacan’s 5th discourse, that of the capitalist, as presented in his 1972 lecture in Milan.

Location: Philadelphia Center City / In-person only
Dates: 1st Saturday every other month 1:00-3:30 pm EST / September 3 & November 5, 2016-January 7, March 4 & May 6 2017

Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

LACAN ON LAUGHTER—THE NEW LOL

How to fight a situation which seems farcical? When reality reaches absurdity, the subversive power of laughter steps in. Laughter is never innocent, it happens to us, at times inappropriately and inauspiciously. Psychoanalysis is well known for having shed some light on the perennial mysteries of what we do not control – dreams, parapraxes, symptoms, and sexual problems. While the Freudian slip and the bungled act have become part of Western culture’s lingua franca, it is less commonly known that psychoanalysis provides revelatory insights about the mechanisms of jokes, comedy, humor and their effects.

Dreams, Freud noted, are “insufferably witty,” which revealed their predilection for bad puns. Having discovered that wit is at work in all unconscious processes, he related this process to his theory of the joke and the comic. Laughter was also serious business for Lacan. His interest in humor, jokes, and comedy was not purely scholarly but also practical; Lacan stated: “Life is not tragic. It is comic. This is however, why it is so curious that Freud would not find something better than the Oedipus complex, a tragedy, to discuss it, as if that was what it was all about. . .. He could have taken a shortcut – comedy.”

If psychoanalysis has long been associated with tragedy, there is now a strong incentive to take up comedy as a productive model for psychoanalytic practice and critique. This seminar will explore jokes, humor, and the comic. We will propose a paradigm swerve connecting Freud and Lacan about laughter. In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Co-curated by Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler.

“A beautiful and clever girl of eighteen, belonging to a family of good standing, had aroused displeasure and concern in her parents by the devoted adoration with which she pursued a certain ‘society lady’ who was about ten years older than herself” (Freud, 1920, p. 147). So begins Sidonie’s analysis with Freud.
Her father brought her to see him with the hope that Freud could “fix” his daughter’s state of mind, after a serious suicide attempt. It must have been an end-of-the-rope decision for the father who did not hold psychoanalysis in high esteem. Freud never gave a name to his “Young Homosexual Woman,” as she became known, unlike all his other female patients. He published the case in 1920, twenty years after her analysis ended. This case provides a great opportunity to think through what psychoanalysis has to say about femininity, homosexuality, and technique.

We will start with a reading and a discussion of Freud’s case. Then we will move on to Lacan’s perspective, followed by other texts on the case. Chances are that we will encounter Lacan’s formula of sexuation! All attendees are encouraged to recommend additional reading material and to actively participate in this year-long seminar. The discussion of this case will include clinical conversations, and case presentations.

Location: Webex / On-line only
Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

LACAN ON LAUGHTER—THE NEW LOL

How to fight a situation that seems farcical? When reality reaches absurdity, the subversive power of laughter steps in. Laughter is never innocent, it happens to us, at times inappropriately and inauspiciously. Psychoanalysis is well known for having shed some light on the perennial mysteries of what we do not control – dreams, parapraxes, symptoms, and sexual problems. While the Freudian slip and the bungled act have become part of Western culture’s lingua franca, it is less commonly known that psychoanalysis provides revelatory insights about the mechanisms of jokes, comedy, humor and their effects.

Dreams, Freud noted, are “insufferably witty,” which revealed their predilection for bad puns. Having discovered that wit is at work in all unconscious processes, he related this process to his theory of the joke and the comic. Laughter was also serious business for Lacan. His interest in humor, jokes, and comedy was not purely scholarly but also practical; Lacan stated: “Life is not tragic. It is comic. This is however, why it is so curious that Freud would not find something better than the Oedipus complex, a tragedy, to discuss it, as if that was what it was all about. . .. He could have taken a shortcut – comedy.”

If psychoanalysis has long been associated with tragedy, there is now a strong incentive to take up comedy as a productive model for psychoanalytic practice and critique. This seminar will explore jokes, humor, and the comic. We will propose a paradigm swerve connecting Freud and Lacan about laughter. In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Co-curated by Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler.

In-person Seminar

In his 1969-1970 seminar (The Other Side of Psychoanalysis. Book XVII, Norton & Co: New York, 2007), Lacan puts forward his theory of the four discourses: hysteric, master, university, and analyst. We propose a close reading of seminar XVII. We will further our exploration with contemporary authors, and connect the impact of these discourses on contemporary events as well as our practice as clinicians. If time allows, we will study Lacan’s 5th discourse, that of the capitalist, as presented in his 1972 lecture in Milan.

Location: Philadelphia Center City / In-person only
Dates: 1st Saturday every other month 1:00-3:30 pm EST / September 3 & November 5, 2016-January 7, March 4 & May 6 2017

Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

LACAN ON LAUGHTER—THE NEW LOL

How to fight a situation which seems farcical? When reality reaches absurdity, the subversive power of laughter steps in. Laughter is never innocent, it happens to us, at times inappropriately and inauspiciously. Psychoanalysis is well known for having shed some light on the perennial mysteries of what we do not control – dreams, parapraxes, symptoms, and sexual problems. While the Freudian slip and the bungled act have become part of Western culture’s lingua franca, it is less commonly known that psychoanalysis provides revelatory insights about the mechanisms of jokes, comedy, humor and their effects.

Dreams, Freud noted, are “insufferably witty,” which revealed their predilection for bad puns. Having discovered that wit is at work in all unconscious processes, he related this process to his theory of the joke and the comic. Laughter was also serious business for Lacan. His interest in humor, jokes, and comedy was not purely scholarly but also practical; Lacan stated: “Life is not tragic. It is comic. This is however, why it is so curious that Freud would not find something better than the Oedipus complex, a tragedy, to discuss it, as if that was what it was all about. . .. He could have taken a shortcut – comedy.”

If psychoanalysis has long been associated with tragedy, there is now a strong incentive to take up comedy as a productive model for psychoanalytic practice and critique. This seminar will explore jokes, humor, and the comic. We will propose a paradigm swerve connecting Freud and Lacan about laughter. In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Co-curated by Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler.

“A beautiful and clever girl of eighteen, belonging to a family of good standing, had aroused displeasure and concern in her parents by the devoted adoration with which she pursued a certain ‘society lady’ who was about ten years older than herself” (Freud, 1920, p. 147). So begins Sidonie’s analysis with Freud.
Her father brought her to see him with the hope that Freud could “fix” his daughter’s state of mind, after a serious suicide attempt. It must have been an end-of-the-rope decision for the father who did not hold psychoanalysis in high esteem. Freud never gave a name to his “Young Homosexual Woman,” as she became known, unlike all his other female patients. He published the case in 1920, twenty years after her analysis ended. This case provides a great opportunity to think through what psychoanalysis has to say about femininity, homosexuality, and technique.

We will start with a reading and a discussion of Freud’s case. Then we will move on to Lacan’s perspective, followed by other texts on the case. Chances are that we will encounter Lacan’s formula of sexuation! All attendees are encouraged to recommend additional reading material and to actively participate in this year-long seminar. The discussion of this case will include clinical conversations, and case presentations.

Location: Webex / On-line only
Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

In-person Seminar

In his 1969-1970 seminar (The Other Side of Psychoanalysis. Book XVII, Norton & Co: New York, 2007), Lacan puts forward his theory of the four discourses: hysteric, master, university, and analyst. We propose a close reading of seminar XVII. We will further our exploration with contemporary authors, and connect the impact of these discourses on contemporary events as well as our practice as clinicians. If time allows, we will study Lacan’s 5th discourse, that of the capitalist, as presented in his 1972 lecture in Milan.

Location: Philadelphia, Center City / In-person only
Dates: 1st Saturday every other month 1:00-3:30 pm EST / September 3 & November 5, 2016-January 7, March 4 & May 6 2017

Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

“A beautiful and clever girl of eighteen, belonging to a family of good standing, had aroused displeasure and concern in her parents by the devoted adoration with which she pursued a certain ‘society lady’ who was about ten years older than herself” (Freud, 1920, p. 147). So begins Sidonie’s analysis with Freud.
Her father brought her to see him with the hope that Freud could “fix” his daughter’s state of mind, after a serious suicide attempt. It must have been an end-of-the-rope decision for the father who did not hold psychoanalysis in high esteem. Freud never gave a name to his “Young Homosexual Woman,” as she became known, unlike all his other female patients. He published the case in 1920, twenty years after her analysis ended. This case provides a great opportunity to think through what psychoanalysis has to say about femininity, homosexuality, and technique.

We will start with a reading and a discussion of Freud’s case. Then we will move on to Lacan’s perspective, followed by other texts on the case. Chances are that we will encounter Lacan’s formula of sexuation!
All attendees are encouraged to recommend additional reading material and to actively participate in this year-long seminar. The discussion of this case will include clinical conversations, and case presentations.

Location: Webex / On-line only
Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

In-person Seminar

In his 1969-1970 seminar (The Other Side of Psychoanalysis. Book XVII, Norton & Co: New York, 2007), Lacan puts forward his theory of the four discourses: hysteric, master, university, and analyst. We propose a close reading of seminar XVII. We will further our exploration with contemporary authors, and connect the impact of these discourses on contemporary events as well as our practice as clinicians. If time allows, we will study Lacan’s 5th discourse, that of the capitalist, as presented in his 1972 lecture in Milan.

Location: Philadelphia Center City / In-person only
Dates: 1st Saturday every other month 1:00-3:30 pm EST / September 3 & November 5, 2016-January 7, March 4 & May 6 2017

Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

LACAN ON LAUGHTER—THE NEW LOL

Dreams, Freud noted, are “insufferably witty,” which revealed their predilection for bad puns. Having discovered that wit is at work in all unconscious processes, he related this process to his theory of the joke and the comic. Laughter was also serious business for Lacan. His interest in humor, jokes, and comedy was not purely scholarly but also practical; Lacan stated: “Life is not tragic. It is comic. This is however, why it is so curious that Freud would not find something better than the Oedipus complex, a tragedy, to discuss it, as if that was what it was all about. . .. He could have taken a shortcut – comedy.” If psychoanalysis has long been associated with tragedy, there is now a strong incentive to take up comedy as a productive model for psychoanalytic practice and critique. This seminar will explore jokes, humor, and the comic. We will propose a paradigm swerve connecting Freud and Lacan about laughter. In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

(Please note change of meeting day—Meetings during the fall of 2016 will be on Thursdays)

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Co-curated by Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler.

a/cephalic discontents / ​ a discussion series organized by DAS UNBEHAGEN
session IV/ curated by WENDY’S SUBWAY/ texts: Roland Barthes, “How to Live Together”
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, New York, New York 11217

Saturday, October 29. 2-4PM

“…the name given to the imaginary was the fantasy of idiorrhythmy.”

Acephalic discontents is a series of text-based discussions on the question of community and group structure organized in collaboration with various writerly, artistic and intellectual groups. Sessions reflect on the possibilities and limits of alternative organization within the constraints of today’s capitalism while also functioning as nodes of intersection for various acephalic thinkers, groups and projects between New York City and Philadelphia. Each discussion session is relatively autonomous; together they build a discursive commons in preparation for a “case conference” and handful of other events in 2017 treating specific historical and contemporary acephalic formations or “elective communities” as “cases” — singular, producing new possibilities but also new and old pathologies.

This session of acephalic discontents focuses on the notes and transcriptions of Roland Barthes’ 1977 lecture series, “How to Live Together: Some Novelistic Simulations of Everyday Life.” These lectures reflect on sources of imagination for group life and its rhythms in novelistic, religious, political and aesthetic texts. Through a series of discontinuous “traits” — digressive and alphabetically organized keywords — Barthes explores the possibility of “idiorrhythmy”: singular distributions of time, space and the fabric of sense that are generated by group dynamics and practices, and separated from the more automatic interactions of the world at large. Experiments in Barthes’ acephalic method and discussion of the lecture course’s material will be guided by participants from Wendy’s Subway, a library and writing space oriented towards collaborative practice, publication and education.

To register and for the pdfs, contact Patricia Gherovici at pgherovici@aol.com / Transportation will be facilitated between NYC and Philadelphia, and some hosted accommodations are available / visit acephalicdiscontents.tumblr.com for more information

LACAN ON LAUGHTER—THE NEW LOL

Dreams, Freud noted, are “insufferably witty,” which revealed their predilection for bad puns. Having discovered that wit is at work in all unconscious processes, he related this process to his theory of the joke and the comic. Laughter was also serious business for Lacan. His interest in humor, jokes, and comedy was not purely scholarly but also practical; Lacan stated: “Life is not tragic. It is comic. This is however, why it is so curious that Freud would not find something better than the Oedipus complex, a tragedy, to discuss it, as if that was what it was all about. . .. He could have taken a shortcut – comedy.” If psychoanalysis has long been associated with tragedy, there is now a strong incentive to take up comedy as a productive model for psychoanalytic practice and critique. This seminar will explore jokes, humor, and the comic. We will propose a paradigm swerve connecting Freud and Lacan about laughter. In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion.

The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

(Please note change of meeting day; meetings during the fall of 2016 will be on Thursdays)

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Co-curated by Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler.

“A beautiful and clever girl of eighteen, belonging to a family of good standing, had aroused displeasure and concern in her parents by the devoted adoration with which she pursued a certain ‘society lady’ who was about ten years older than herself” (Freud, 1920, p. 147). So begins Sidonie’s analysis with Freud.
Her father brought her to see him with the hope that Freud could “fix” his daughter’s state of mind, after a serious suicide attempt. It must have been an end-of-the-rope decision for the father who did not hold psychoanalysis in high esteem. Freud never gave a name to his “Young Homosexual Woman,” as she became known, unlike all his other female patients. He published the case in 1920, twenty years after her analysis ended. This case provides a great opportunity to think through what psychoanalysis has to say about femininity, homosexuality, and technique.

Location: Webex / On-line only
Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

In-person Seminar

In his 1969-1970 seminar (The Other Side of Psychoanalysis. Book XVII, Norton & Co: New York, 2007), Lacan puts forward his theory of the four discourses: hysteric, master, university, and analyst. We propose a close reading of seminar XVII. We will further our exploration with contemporary authors, and connect the impact of these discourses on contemporary events as well as our practice as clinicians. If time allows, we will study Lacan’s 5th discourse, that of the capitalist, as presented in his 1972 lecture in Milan.

Location: Philadelphia Center City / In-person only
Dates: 1st Saturday every other month 1:00-3:30 pm EST / September 3 & November 5, 2016-January 7, March 4 & May 6 2017

Contact Cécile McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for reading list or check her website
www.drcecilemckenna.com

SESSION 3 # PHILADELPHIA
date/ Saturday, June 18

text/ giorgio agamben: “the coming community”

location/ fidget space. 1714 N Mascher St. Philadelphia. (MF line @ Berks)

co-curator/ FIDGET

description/ “…that being-such, which remains constantly hidden in the condition of belonging…”
Acephalic discontents is a series of text-based discussions on the question of community and group structure co-curated by various writerly, artistic and intellectual groups. Sessions reflect on the possibilities and limits of alternative organization within the constraints of today’s capitalism while also functioning as nodes of intersection for various acephalic thinkers, groups and projects between New York City and Philadelphia.

The third session of Acephalic discontents takes a step back to the beginning of the alphabet, from B to A, in order to examine Giorgio Agamben’s “acephalic” meditations on the concept of
community. The Coming Community — a title for Freudians — searches strange and forgotten corners of philosophy and theology for resources to envision other forms of group life and being-in-common latent within collectives based on exploitation and identification. Can concepts — the tools of philosophers — begin to create a space, through designation, for community structures and forms of life beyond both petit-bourgeois individualism and the projection of figures and essences of community? What, if anything at all, does conceptualizing such an ethos have to do with realizing it?

SESSION #2 / NYC
date/ april 30, 2-4pm
http://acephalicdiscontents.tumblr.com

“If there is an image which could represent for us the Freudian notion of the unconscious, it is indeed that of the acephalic subject, a subject who no longer has an ego, who doesn’t belong to the ego. And yet he is the subject who speaks…” (Lacan, Seminar II, p. 167)

Das Unbehagen sprouted from discontent with the atmosphere of conventional institutions, training procedures, and theoretical allegiances, and from a corresponding desire for different kinds of associations and events. The problems of community and communication sounded by Das Unbehagen are echoed, today as in the past, by many other experimental organizations and groups involved in the arts, in thought, in politics, education and other practices. How is it possible for such communities, driven by discontent and desire, to maintain the impossible situation, akin to the imperative of free association, of both having and not having agency, of both believing and not believing in structure, authority and leadership, of both intervening in and withdrawing from the public sphere? These problems call for reflection on ‘community,’ ‘commmunication,’ and the common. a/cephalic discontents organizes a series of tex-based discussions, alternating between NYC and Philadelphia, thematizing the problems and possibilities of “headless” — acephalic — community. Through these readings we will explore the problem of acephale, a figure of experimentation and of the negotiations between discontent with what is and the desire that opens onto something different. Texts will include psychoanalytic, philosophic, political and aesthetic works sourced from the tradition related to the experiments in community often associated with Georges Bataille, who founded the Acéphale group in the 1920’s. Following our conjecture that many other contemporary organizations have an interest in what we call acephale, these readings and discussion will be co-curated with other discontented and desiring communities. The readings aim to give all participants the time and resources to engage carefully with these questions in preparation for a conference in the Spring of 2017 that will bring together writers, artists, analysts and scholars, as well as the various groups who have participated in the discussions. By refusing to presuppose that we know what we mean when we say “community,” we hope to explore alternatives to efforts new and old to consolidate the identity of group ideals.

Space is limited; please contact Patricia Gherovici at pgherovici@aol.com to register and for pdfs / Transportation will be facilitated between NYC and Philadelphia, and some hosted accommodations are available / if you are involved in a group that would like to collaborate or co-curate, please contact Scott Jenkins at scttjnkns@gmail.com

texts/ denis hollier, “Introduction” to The College of Sociology; georges bataille: “program relative to acéphale”; “what we have undertaken”; “unkowing and rebellion”; “letter to kojève”; “inner experience”

location/ 30 charlton street, suite 1. (1 train houston, C & E spring)

co-curator/ BROKEN TONGUE COMMITTEE

constraints/ registrants will receive specific, particular instructions regarding discursive arrangement.

Whereas Freud’s legacy is partly made up of detailed case presentations, Lacan rarely presented his own cases but revisited Freud’s case studies so as to expand the theory of psychoanalysis. This seminar will consist in readings of Freud and Lacan focusing on the original cases and their analyses.
​This seminar proposes to read Freud and Lacan together i.e. the original cases and its analyses. A suggested reading list will be provided to the participants ahead of each meeting. Specific passages might be read aloud and commented during the meetings. For this meeting we will read Fräulein Elisabeth von R. from Freud’s & Breuer’s Studies on Hysteria.

Readings
Benvenuto, S. (1998). The Crisis of Interpretation. JEP, 6 Winter 1998. Retrieved from http://www.psychomedia.it/jep/number6/benvenuto.htm
Breuer, J. and Freud, S. (1893). On The Psychical Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume II (1893-1895): Studies on Hysteria, Preliminary Communication, pp. 1-17
Fainsilber, L. and Berton, D. (2006). Au grand bal masqué du symptôme. Retrieved from http://psychanalyse.canalblog.com/archives/2006/01/24/1264774.html
Freud, S. (1895). Frälein Elisabeth von R, Case Histories from Studies on Hysteria. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume II (1893-1895): Studies on Hysteria, Fraülein Elisabeth von R, Case Histories from Studies on Hysteria pp. 135-181
Freud, S. (1893). The Psychotherapy of Hysteria from Studies on Hysteria. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume II (1893-1895): Studies on Hysteria, The Psychotherapy of Hysteria, pp. 253-305
Lacan, J. (1957-58). Séminaire V: Les Formations de l’Inconscient, retrieved from http://staferla.free.fr/S5/S5.htm Séance du 16 avril 1958
Lacan, J. (1957-58). Seminar V: the Formations of the Unconscious,Transl. Gallagher, C., retrieved from http://www.lacaninireland.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Book-05-the-formations-of-the-unconscious.pdf Session of April 16, 1958
Lacan, J. (1966/2006). The Direction of the Treatment Principles of its Power, in Écrits (Bruce Fink Translator). Norton, pp. 489-542 (specially pp. 534-538)
Laznik, M.-C. 1957-1958 Le désir et l’hystérique dans le séminaire des formations de l’inconscient. Retrieved http://www.freud-lacan.com/index.php/fr/44-categories-fr/site/189-Petite_histoire_des_idees_de_Lacan_sur_l_hysterie
Mijolla de, A. (2005) The Case of Elisabeth von R. retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3435300434.html

Video
JAM introduces launch of Seminar 5 publication by Seuil in 1999 (French video) https://www.canal-u.tv/video/universite_toulouse_ii_le_mirail/les_formations_de_l_inconscient_le_seminaire_v_de_lacan_jacques_alain_miller.6431

WHERE? Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates: Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks
Location Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks,
Contact Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Free of charge.
Open to all interested.

Organized by The San Francisco Bay Area Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis (http://www.lacanschool.org) in collaboration with the Philadelphia Lacan Study Group

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS
MONDAY April 4, 2016, @ 7 pm.

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar explores the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel, Diana Rabinovich, Wilfred Bion, Juliet Flower MacCannell, Claude-Nöele Pickmann.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

(Please note change of meeting day)

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

http://acephalicdiscontents.tumblr.com

a/cephalic discontents is a series of discursive experiments reflecting on community and group structures, leading up to a conference in March 2017. Each discussion is based on a text or a handful of texts that all participants are asked to read. Each session is also co-curated by a different Philadelphia or NYC group who will open, frame and inflect the session in a creative manner particular to their concerns and engagements.

Everyone is welcome to participate in one, some, or all of these discussions; the constituency of these sessions will be ferociously heterogeneous. Space is limited, and since we are trying to cultivate an atmosphere of participation, engagement and discussion, we ask that you please register beforehand.

Please consider this an opportunity to reflect on the directions that Das Unbehagen has taken and may take, as well as to search out parallels in other acephalic and alternative writerly, intellectual and artistic communities.

As part of the project involves opening more channels of communication between NYC and Philadelphia and various groups based in these cities, accommodations and facilitations for travel are being organized. Please let us know when you register if you are interested in carpooling or in a place to stay. All sessions are scheduled for Saturday afternoons in order to make this travel more possible. Philadelphia desires more Das Unbehagen.

This first session of a/cephalic discontents, to be co-hosted with in Philadelphia on April 2nd, will be devoted to an interrogation of Sigmund Freud’s “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego,” Georges Bataille’s “The Absence of Myth,” and selections on acephale from Jacques Lacan’s Seminar II (1954-955), “The Ego in Freud’s Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis,” Chapter XIV, “The Dream of Irma’s Injection.” What do we do with relation — or, what does it do with us? How must the question of community be posed when, on the one hand, the unconscious is introduced, and on the other hand, when “myth” — understood as the security and cohesion of ideals, images, values and narratives that furnish a culture or a community with its consistency — is in default? What, in a word, as a word, is a we?

VENUE:
Fidget Space
1714 N Mascher St.
Philadelphia , PA 19122
To register please contact Patricia Gherovici: pgherovici@aol.com

Whereas Freud’s legacy is partly made up of detailed case presentations, Lacan rarely presented his own cases but revisited Freud’s case studies so as to expand the theory of psychoanalysis. This seminar will consist in readings of Freud and Lacan focusing on the original cases and their analyses.
​This seminar proposes to read Freud and Lacan together i.e. the original cases and its analyses. A suggested reading list will be provided to the participants ahead of each meeting. Specific passages might be read aloud and commented during the meetings. For this meeting we will continue reading Freud’s Wolf-Man.

​Recommended Reading:
Freud, S. (1918). From the History of an Infantile Neurosis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works, 1-124
Lacan, J. (1952). Séminaire sur l’homme aux loups. Unpublished. Retrieved from http://bulk.lutecium.org/pro.wanadoo.fr/espace.freud/topos/psycha/psysem/homoloup.htm

Suggested Reading
Abraham, N. & Torok, M. (1986/2005). The Wolfman’s Magic Word. University Of Minnesota Press
Gardner, E. Editor. (1971). The Wolf-Man by the Wolf-Man. Basic Book [Note: it includes the autobiography by the Wolf Man, the case by Freud, and a supplement by Brunswick, the Wolf-Man’s second analyst]
Hewiston, O. (2010). Reading Lacan Seminar III Chapter 1. Retrieved from http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2010/05/reading-seminar-iii-chapter-i-introduction-to-the-question-of-the-psychoses/
Hewiston, O. (2010). What does Lacan Say About Déjà Vu. Retrieved from http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2010/05/what-does-lacan-say-about-deja-vu/
Lacan, J. (1966/2006). The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis, Écrits (Bruce Fink Translator). Norton, pp. 197-268 Lacan, J. (1966/2006). On a Question Prior to Any Possible Treatment of Psychosis, Écrits (Bruce Fink Translator). Norton, pp. 445-488
Leader, D. (2011). “The Wolf Man.” What is Madness? Chapter 10, pp.246-272. London, England: Hamish Hamilton of Penguin Group.
Miller, J.-A. (2010). The Wolf Man I. Lacanian Ink 35, pp. 7-83
Miller, J.-A. (2010). The Wolf Man II. Lacanian Ink 36, pp. 6-85

WHERE? Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates: Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks
Location Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks,
Contact Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Free of charge.
Open to all interested.

Organized by The San Francisco Bay Area Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis (http://www.lacanschool.org) in collaboration with the Philadelphia Lacan Study Group

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar explores the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel, Diana Rabinovich, Wilfred Bion, Juliet Flower MacCannell, Claude-Nöele Pickmann).

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar explores the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel, Diana Rabinovich, Wilfred Bion, Juliet Flower MacCannell, Claude-Nöele Pickmann.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

Whereas Freud’s legacy is partly made up of detailed case presentations, Lacan rarely presented his own cases but revisited Freud’s case studies so as to expand the theory of psychoanalysis. This seminar will consist in readings of Freud and Lacan focusing on the original cases and their analyses.
​This seminar proposes to read Freud and Lacan together i.e. the original cases and its analyses. A suggested reading list will be provided to the participants ahead of each meeting. Specific passages might be read aloud and commented during the meetings. For this meeting we will read Freud’s Wolf-Man.

​Recommended Reading:
Freud, S. (1918). From the History of an Infantile Neurosis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works, 1-124
Lacan, J. (1952). Séminaire sur l’homme aux loups. Unpublished. Retrieved from http://bulk.lutecium.org/pro.wanadoo.fr/espace.freud/topos/psycha/psysem/homoloup.htm
Further Reading:
Gardner, E. Editor. (1971). The Wolf-Man by the Wolf-Man. Basic Book [Note: it includes the autobiography by the Wolf Man, the case by Freud, and a supplement by Brunswick, the Wolf-Man’s second analyst]
Miller, J.-A. (2010). The Wolf Man I. Lacanian Ink 35, pp. 7-83
Miller, J.-A. (2010). The Wolf Man II. Lacanian Ink 36, pp. 6-85
Lacan, J. (1966/2006). The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis, in Écrits (Bruce Fink Translator). Norton, pp. 197-268
Lacan, J. (1966/2006). On a Question Prior to Any Possible Treatment of Psychosis, in Écrits (Bruce Fink Translator). Norton, pp. 445-488
Hewiston, O. (2010). Reading Lacan Seminar III Chapter 1. Retrieved from http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2010/05/reading-seminar-iii-chapter-i-introduction-to-the-question-of-the-psychoses/
​Hewiston, O. (2010). What does Lacan Say About Déjà Vu. Retrieved from http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2010/05/what-does-lacan-say-about-deja-vu/
Abraham, N. & Torok, M. (1986/2005)The Wolfman’s Magic Word. University Of Minnesota Press

WHERE? Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates: Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks
Location Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks,
Contact Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Free of charge.
Open to all interested.

Organized by The San Francisco Bay Area Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis (http://www.lacanschool.org) in collaboration with the Philadelphia Lacan Study Group

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel, Diana Rabinovich, Wilfred Bion.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel, Diana Rabinovich, Wilfred Bion.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

Whereas Freud’s legacy is partly made up of detailed case presentations, Lacan rarely presented his own cases but revisited Freud’s case studies so as to expand the theory of psychoanalysis. This seminar will consist in readings of Freud and Lacan focusing on the original cases and their analyses.
​This seminar proposes to read Freud and Lacan together i.e. the original cases and its analyses. A suggested reading list will be provided to the participants ahead of each meeting. Specific passages might be read aloud and commented during the meetings. For this second meeting we will read Freud’s Wolf-Man.

​Recommended Reading:
Freud, S. (1918). From the History of an Infantile Neurosis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works, 1-124
Lacan, J. (1952). Séminaire sur l’homme aux loups. Unpublished. Retrieved from http://bulk.lutecium.org/pro.wanadoo.fr/espace.freud/topos/psycha/psysem/homoloup.htm
Further Reading:
Gardner, E. Editor. (1971). The Wolf-Man by the Wolf-Man. Basic Book [Note: it includes the autobiography by the Wolf Man, the case by Freud, and a supplement by Brunswick, the Wolf-Man’s second analyst]
Miller, J.-A. (2010). The Wolf Man I. Lacanian Ink 35, pp. 7-83
Miller, J.-A. (2010). The Wolf Man II. Lacanian Ink 36, pp. 6-85
Lacan, J. (1966/2006). The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis, in Écrits (Bruce Fink Translator). Norton, pp. 197-268
Lacan, J. (1966/2006). On a Question Prior to Any Possible Treatment of Psychosis, in Écrits (Bruce Fink Translator). Norton, pp. 445-488
Hewiston, O. (2010). Reading Lacan Seminar III Chapter 1. Retrieved from http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2010/05/reading-seminar-iii-chapter-i-introduction-to-the-question-of-the-psychoses/
​Hewiston, O. (2010). What does Lacan Say About Déjà Vu. Retrieved from http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2010/05/what-does-lacan-say-about-deja-vu/
Abraham, N. & Torok, M. (1986/2005)The Wolfman’s Magic Word. University Of Minnesota Press

WHERE? Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates: Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks
Location Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks,
Contact Cécile G. McKenna drcecilemckenna@gmail.com
Free of charge.
Open to all interested.

Organized by The San Francisco Bay Area Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis (http://www.lacanschool.org) in collaboration with the Philadelphia Lacan Study Group.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel, Diana Rabinovich, Wilfred Bion.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 203 Second Floor
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

Whereas Freud’s legacy is partly made up of detailed case presentations, Lacan rarely presented his own cases but revisited Freud’s case studies so as to expand the theory of psychoanalysis. This seminar will consist in readings of Freud and Lacan focusing on the original cases and their analyses.

Recommended Readings for the first meeting:
Freud, S. (1909). Notes Upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume X (1909): Two Case Histories (‘Little Hans’ and the ‘Rat Man’), 151-318
Lacan, J. (1979). The Neurotic’s Individual Myth. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 48:405-425.
Hewiston, O. (2013). Reading ‘The Neurotic’s Individual Myth’ – Lacan’s Masterwork on Obsession. http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2013/09/reading-the-neurotics-individual-myth-lacans-masterwork-on-obsession/. Retrieved from lacanonline.com
Please send an email if you need a PDF
Suggested viewing:
Hewitson, O. (2014). Jacques Lacan–On Obsession and the Rat Man Case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL3wj4g-omQ. Retrieved from youtube.com

WHERE? Philadelphia, PA (Center City) & Online
Dates: Saturdays 1-3:30 pm, about every 6-8 weeks
1st meeting September 19, 2015
Fee: Free of charge

Contact: Cécile G. McKenna at drcecilemckenna@gmail.com for exact address and online participation.
Open to all interested.

Organized by The San Francisco Bay Area Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis (http://www.lacanschool.org) in collaboration with the Philadelphia Lacan Study Group.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel, Diana Rabinovich, Wilfred Bion.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, ROOM # 202
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

FOR READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein, Paul Verhaeghe, Genevieve Morel.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

FOR MEETING LOCATION AND READING LIST : Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

FOR READING LIST: Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, Room 203 (this room is at the far end of the second floor hallway).
38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

FOR READING LIST: Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

JACQUES LACAN: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PSYCHOSIS

Lacan’s encounter with psychosis made him a psychoanalyst. This seminar will explore the evolution of Lacan’s original theory of madness from his early thesis on paranoia to his later notion of the sinthome. We will engage in close readings of texts by Freud, Lacan and other authors (Jean Allouch, Darian Leader, Russell Grigg, Jean-Claude Maleval, Stijn Vanheule, Nestor Braunstein.)

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

FOR READING LIST: Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

NEW 2013-2014 PROJECT
WRITING AND PSYCHOSIS: LACAN/SCHREBER

“The month of November, 1895, marks an important time in the history of my life and in particular in my own ideas of the possible shaping of my future. … During that time the signs of a transformation into a woman became so marked on my body, that I could no longer ignore the imminent goal at which the whole development was aiming. In the immediately preceding nights my male sexual organ might actually have been retracted had I not resolutely set my will against it, still following the shirring of my sense of manly honor; so near completion was the miracle.” (from Schreber’s Memoirs of my nervous illness. New York: New York Review of Books. p. 163)

We will start from Lacan’s reinterpretation of the famous case of Judge Daniel Paul Schreber. Lacan’s reading of the case is unortodox—he replaced Freud’s interpretation of Schreber’s case as being determined by the patient’s “rejection of homosexuality” (for Freud, Schreber had to imagine that he was turning into a woman in order to accept the idea that he was going to have sex with a man or with a male father figure). Lacan stressed transsexual jouissance. In Schreber’s delusion of being transformed into a woman, Lacan found the lineaments for a new theory of sexual identity. Lacan’s original theory of madness will lead us to a broader consideration of writing and psychosis.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

FOR READING LIST: Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

NEW 2013-2014 PROJECT
WRITING AND PSYCHOSIS: LACAN/SCHREBER

“The month of November, 1895, marks an important time in the history of my life and in particular in my own ideas of the possible shaping of my future. … During that time the signs of a transformation into a woman became so marked on my body, that I could no longer ignore the imminent goal at which the whole development was aiming. In the immediately preceding nights my male sexual organ might actually have been retracted had I not resolutely set my will against it, still following the shirring of my sense of manly honor; so near completion was the miracle.” (from Schreber’s Memoirs of my nervous illness. New York: New York Review of Books. p. 163)

We will start from Lacan’s reinterpretation of the famous case of Judge Daniel Paul Schreber. Lacan’s reading of the case is unortodox—he replaced Freud’s interpretation of Schreber’s case as being determined by the patient’s “rejection of homosexuality” (for Freud, Schreber had to imagine that he was turning into a woman in order to accept the idea that he was going to have sex with a man or with a male father figure). Lacan stressed transsexual jouissance. In Schreber’s delusion of being transformed into a woman, Lacan found the lineaments for a new theory of sexual identity. Lacan’s original theory of madness will lead us to a broader consideration of writing and psychosis.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.

FOR READING LIST: Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

NEW 2013-2014 PROJECT
WRITING AND PSYCHOSIS: LACAN/SCHREBER

“The month of November, 1895, marks an important time in the history of my life and in particular in my own ideas of the possible shaping of my future. … During that time the signs of a transformation into a woman became so marked on my body, that I could no longer ignore the imminent goal at which the whole development was aiming. In the immediately preceding nights my male sexual organ might actually have been retracted had I not resolutely set my will against it, still following the shirring of my sense of manly honor; so near completion was the miracle.” (from Schreber’s Memoirs of my nervous illness. New York: New York Review of Books. p. 163)

We will start from Lacan’s reinterpretation of the famous case of Judge Daniel Paul Schreber. Lacan’s reading of the case is unortodox—he replaced Freud’s interpretation of Schreber’s case as being determined by the patient’s “rejection of homosexuality” (for Freud, Schreber had to imagine that he was turning into a woman in order to accept the idea that he was going to have sex with a man or with a male father figure). Lacan stressed transsexual jouissance. In Schreber’s delusion of being transformed into a woman, Lacan found the lineaments for a new theory of sexual identity. Lacan’s original theory of madness will lead us to a broader consideration of writing and psychosis.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

WHERE? Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.
FOR READING LIST: Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

NEW 2013-2014 PROJECT
WRITING AND PSYCHOSIS: LACAN/SCHREBER

“The month of November, 1895, marks an important time in the history of my life and in particular in my own ideas of the possible shaping of my future. … During that time the signs of a transformation into a woman became so marked on my body, that I could no longer ignore the imminent goal at which the whole development was aiming. In the immediately preceding nights my male sexual organ might actually have been retracted had I not resolutely set my will against it, still following the shirring of my sense of manly honor; so near completion was the miracle.” (from Schreber’s Memoirs of my nervous illness. New York: New York Review of Books. p. 163)

We will start from Lacan’s reinterpretation of the famous case of Judge Daniel Paul Schreber. Lacan’s reading of the case is unortodox—he replaced Freud’s interpretation of Schreber’s case as being determined by the patient’s “rejection of homosexuality” (for Freud, Schreber had to imagine that he was turning into a woman in order to accept the idea that he was going to have sex with a man or with a male father figure). Lacan stressed transsexual jouissance. In Schreber’s delusion of being transformed into a woman, Lacan found the lineaments for a new theory of sexual identity. Lacan’s original theory of madness will lead us to a broader consideration of writing and psychosis.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.
FOR MEETING PLACE: Please email: contact@lacangroup.org.

NEW 2013-2014 PROJECT
WRITING AND PSYCHOSIS: LACAN/SCHREBER

“The month of November, 1895, marks an important time in the history of my life and in particular in my own ideas of the possible shaping of my future. … During that time the signs of a transformation into a woman became so marked on my body, that I could no longer ignore the imminent goal at which the whole development was aiming. In the immediately preceding nights my male sexual organ might actually have been retracted had I not resolutely set my will against it, still following the shirring of my sense of manly honor; so near completion was the miracle.” (from Schreber’s Memoirs of my nervous illness. New York: New York Review of Books. p. 163)

We will start from Lacan’s reinterpretation of the famous case of Judge Daniel Paul Schreber. Lacan’s reading of the case is unortodox—he replaced Freud’s interpretation of Schreber’s case as being determined by the patient’s “rejection of homosexuality” (for Freud, Schreber had to imagine that he was turning into a woman in order to accept the idea that he was going to have sex with a man or with a male father figure). Lacan stressed transsexual jouissance. In Schreber’s delusion of being transformed into a woman, Lacan found the lineaments for a new theory of sexual identity. Lacan’s original theory of madness will lead us to a broader consideration of writing and psychosis.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.
Questions? Email contact@lacangroup.org.

NEW 2013-2014 PROJECT
WRITING AND PSYCHOSIS: LACAN/SCHREBER

“The month of November, 1895, marks an important time in the history of my life and in particular in my own ideas of the possible shaping of my future. … During that time the signs of a transformation into a woman became so marked on my body, that I could no longer ignore the imminent goal at which the whole development was aiming. In the immediately preceding nights my male sexual organ might actually have been retracted had I not resolutely set my will against it, still following the shirring of my sense of manly honor; so near completion was the miracle.” (from Schreber’s Memoirs of My Nervous Illness. New York: New York Review of Books, p. 163)

We will start from Lacan’s reinterpretation of the famous case of Judge Daniel Paul Schreber. Lacan’s reading of the case is unortodox—he replaced Freud’s interpretation of Schreber’s case as being determined by the patient’s “rejection of homosexuality” (for Freud, Schreber had to imagine that he was turning into a woman in order to accept the idea that he was going to have sex with a man or with a male father figure). Lacan stressed transsexual jouissance. In Schreber’s delusion of being transformed into a woman, Lacan found the lineaments for a new theory of sexual identity. Lacan’s original theory of madness will lead us to a broader consideration of writing and psychosis.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.
Main Reading for 10/23/13:
The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book III The Psychoses 1955-1956
W. W. Norton, 1993. Chapters I to III, pp. 3-43.
Additional reading: Memoirs of my nervous illness, Daniel Paul Schreber, (The New York Review of Books, 2000.)
Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.
Questions? Email contact@lacangroup.org.

NEW 2013-2014 PROJECT
WRITING AND PSYCHOSIS: LACAN/SCHREBER

“The month of November, 1895, marks an important time in the history of my life and in particular in my own ideas of the possible shaping of my future. … During that time the signs of a transformation into a woman became so marked on my body, that I could no longer ignore the imminent goal at which the whole development was aiming. In the immediately preceding nights my male sexual organ might actually have been retracted had I not resolutely set my will against it, still following the shirring of my sense of manly honor; so near completion was the miracle.” (from Schreber’s Memoirs of My Nervous Illness, New York: New York Review of Books. p. 163)

We will start from Lacan’s reinterpretation of the famous case of Judge Daniel Paul Schreber. Lacan’s reading of the case is unortodox—he replaced Freud’s interpretation of Schreber’s case as being determined by the patient’s “rejection of homosexuality” (for Freud, Schreber had to imagine that he was turning into a woman in order to accept the idea that he was going to have sex with a man or with a male father figure). Lacan stressed transsexual jouissance. In Schreber’s delusion of being transformed into a woman, Lacan found the lineaments for a new theory of sexual identity. Lacan’s original theory of madness will lead us to a broader consideration of writing and psychosis.

In this reading group we engage in a close reading of the texts followed by a discussion. The seminar is open to everyone interested.

Kelly Writers House, Room 202, 38th and Locust Streets, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Main Reading for 9/25/13:
Freud’s The Schreber Case (Penguin, 2003) or Freud, S. (1911). Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia (Dementia Paranoides). The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XII (1911-1913): The Case of Schreber, Papers on Technique and Other Works, 1-82.
Additional reading: Memoirs of my nervous illness, Daniel Paul Schreber, (The New York Review of Books, 2000.)

Curated by Patricia Gherovici.
Questions? Email contact@lacangroup.org.

Affiliated Psychoanalytic Workgroups, The Philadelphia Lacan Group, Das Unbehagen, Fordham University English Department, The Psychoanalysis Workshop at the New School, and the California Psychoanalytic Circle present:
Psychoanalysis and Laughter, an APW Study Weekend
Friday April 26-Sunday April 28, 2013
Fordham, Lincoln Center Campus New York City

“Laughter is America’s most important export.” — Walt Disney

What does psychoanalysis have to tell us about laughter? In his Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905), Freud famously illuminated the Witz’s linguistic and economic properties. Linguistically, the Witz “works” like the dream (by condensation and displacement); economically, it bypasses the “inhibiting factor” both in the teller of the joke and in the listener. Jokes are serious business for Freud: like dreams, they allow aggression an acceptable form, establishing a social tie while satisfying repressed wishes.
Jokes are serious business for Lacan too. Of necessity, the analysand speaks “à coté du vrai” (beside truth) because speech ignores the real. In the symptom, however, the real manifests itself by not stopping, just like the persistent grin of the Cheshire cat. The fact that the cat disappears shows that truth lies, that the fantasy is not all. The real remains beyond truth’s disappearance. Laughter comes from the Greek “gelos.” We read the word first in Homer when the poet describes the gods’ laughter as “Asbestos gelos,” “fireproof or inextinguishable laughter.” Similarly, Lacanian psychoanalysis, which aims at the real by way of equivocation or the half-said, is one long extended joke. And the analysand’s burst of laughter is a proof that the real is touched. The Walt Disney quotation above begs the crucial question: is laughter a critique of ideology or its guarantee?

Register at www.apwonline.org

Scheduled to speak:
Nuar Alsadir, Damir Arsenijevic, Yael Goldman, Olga Cox Cameron, Simon Critchley, Jessica Datema, Todd Dean, Marcel Drach, Ezra Feinberg, Rolf Flor, Michael Stuart Garfinkle, Patricia Gherovici, Russell Grigg, Haukur Ingi Jónasson, Ben Kafka, Todd Kesselman, Patrick Landman, Guy Le Gaufet, David Lichtenstein, Anthony Mangicapra, André Michels, Paola Mieli, Elizabeth Monahan, Geneviève Morel, Jean-Jacques Moscovitz, Dany Nobus, Ray O’Neill, Orna Ophir, Carol Owens, Jean-Michel Rabaté, Steven Reisner, C. Edward Robins, Vanessa Sinclair, Mark Stafford, Manya Steinkoler, Martin Stone, Barbara Tholfsen, Lisa Trahair ,Wilfried Ver Eecke, Richard Vergez, Eve Watson, Jamieson Webster, Martin Winn, P.G.Young.

For information and registration visit www.apwonline.org.