Jacques Lacan

Lore & Background

Lacan was born in Paris, the eldest of Émilie and Alfred Lacan's three children. His father was a successful soap and oils salesman; his mother was ardently Catholic. He attended the Catholic Collège Stanislas de Paris between 1907 and 1918. An interest in philosophy led him to a preoccupation with Spinoza, one outcome of which was his abandonment of religious faith for atheism. In the early 1920s, he engaged with the Parisian literary and artistic avant-garde, meeting James Joyce and attending the first readings of passages from Ulysses in French and English shortly before it was published in 1922. He entered medical school in 1920 and specialized in psychiatry under Henri Claude at the Sainte-Anne Hospital, also studying under Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault at the Infirmary for the Insane of the Police Prefecture and at the Hospital Henri-Rousselle. In the 1930s, Lacan was involved with the Parisian surrealist movement, associating with André Breton, Georges Bataille, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso, and for a time served as Picasso's personal therapist. He published his thesis "On Paranoiac Psychosis in its Relations to the Personality" in 1932, which met with acclaim among surrealist writers and artists. He began his training analysis with Rudolph Loewenstein in autumn 1932, which lasted until 1938. In 1936 he presented his first analytic report on the "Mirror Phase" at the IPA congress in Marienbad, but the congress chairman Ernest Jones terminated the lecture before its conclusion; no copy of the original lecture remains. Lacan's attendance at Kojève's lectures on Hegel between 1933 and 1939 was formative for his subsequent work. During World War II, the Société psychanalytique de Paris was disbanded due to Nazi Germany's occupation of France in 1940. Lacan served at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital while continuing his private practice. He studied Chinese and obtained a degree from the École Spéciale des Langues Orientales. After the war, he visited England for a five-week study trip in 1945, meeting analysts Ernest Jones, Wilfred Bion, and John Rickman. His controversial innovations in clinical practice led to his expulsion from the International Psychoanalytic Association, after which he established new psychoanalytic institutions to promote and develop his work, which he declared to be a "return to Freud".

Reader's Guide

Lacan's significance lies in his radical reinterpretation of Freudian psychoanalysis, which he framed as a "return to Freud" in opposition to prevalent trends that adapted Freud's ideas to social norms. By applying concepts from structuralism in linguistics and anthropology, and augmenting them with predicate logic and topology, he transformed psychoanalytic theory. His annual seminars from 1952 to 1980 and the collected papers Écrits became foundational texts for continental philosophy and cultural theory, influencing post-structuralism, critical theory, feminist theory, and film theory. His controversial clinical innovations led to expulsion from the International Psychoanalytic Association, but he responded by founding new institutions to carry forward his work. Lacan's legacy includes the enduring impact of his concepts—such as the mirror phase—on both psychoanalytic practice and broader intellectual movements, though his work remains a subject of debate and interpretation.

Did You Know?

• Lacan was rejected for military service in 1920 on the grounds that he was too thin.
• He sent a copy of his 1932 doctoral thesis to Sigmund Freud, who acknowledged its receipt with a postcard.
• At the 1936 IPA congress, chairman Ernest Jones terminated Lacan's lecture on the Mirror Phase before its conclusion; Lacan left to witness the Berlin Olympic Games.
• During World War II, Lacan studied Chinese and obtained a degree from the École Spéciale des Langues Orientales.
• Lacan's art collection included Courbet's L'Origine du monde, which he concealed in his study behind a removable wooden screen with an abstract representation by André Masson.

From Catholic Paris to the Avant-Garde

Jacques Lacan entered the world on 13 April 1901 as the eldest of Émilie and Alfred Lacan's three children. His father was a successful soap and oils salesman; his mother was ardently Catholic. He attended the Catholic Collège Stanislas de Paris between 1907 and 1918. An interest in philosophy led him to a preoccupation with the work of Spinoza, one outcome of which was his abandonment of religious faith for atheism. There were tensions in the family around this issue, and he regretted not persuading his younger brother, who entered a monastery in 1929, to take a different path. By 1924 his parents had moved to Boulogne and he was living in rooms in Montmartre. During the early 1920s, Lacan actively engaged with the Parisian literary and artistic avant-garde. Having met James Joyce, he was present at the Parisian bookshop where the first readings of passages from Ulysses in French and English took place, shortly before it was published in 1922. He also had meetings with Charles Maurras, whom he admired as a literary stylist, and he occasionally attended meetings of Action Française, of which he would later be highly critical. In 1920, after being rejected for military service on the grounds that he was too thin, Lacan entered medical school. Between 1927 and 1931, after completing his studies at the faculty of medicine of the University of Paris, he specialised in psychiatry under the direction of Henri Claude at the Sainte-Anne Hospital, at the Infirmary for the Insane of the Police Prefecture under Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, and also at the Hospital Henri-Rousselle.

Surrealism, the Thesis, and the Freudian Turn

Lacan was involved with the Parisian surrealist movement of the 1930s, associating with André Breton, Georges Bataille, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso. For a time, he served as Picasso's personal therapist. He attended the mouvement Psyché that Maryse Choisy founded and published in the Surrealist journal Minotaure. As biographer Dylan Evans explains, Lacan's interest in surrealism predated his interest in psychoanalysis, and translator David Macey writes that 'the importance of surrealism can hardly be over-stated... to the young Lacan... [who] also shared the surrealists' taste for scandal and provocation.' In 1931, after a second year at the Sainte-Anne Hospital, Lacan was awarded his Diplôme de médecin légiste and became a licensed forensic psychiatrist. The following year he was awarded his Diplôme d'État de docteur en médecine for his thesis 'On Paranoiac Psychosis in its Relations to the Personality' ('De la Psychose paranoïaque dans ses rapports avec la personnalité'). Its publication had little immediate impact on French psychoanalysis but did meet with acclaim amongst Lacan's circle of surrealist writers and artists. In their only recorded instance of direct communication, Lacan sent a copy of his thesis to Sigmund Freud who acknowledged its receipt with a postcard. Also in 1932, Lacan published a translation of Freud's 1922 text 'Über einige neurotische Mechanismen bei Eifersucht, Paranoia und Homosexualität' as 'De quelques mécanismes névrotiques dans la jalousie, la paranoïa et l'homosexualité' in the Revue française de psychanalyse. In autumn 1932, Lacan began his training analysis with Rudolph Loewenstein, which was to last until 1938. In 1934 Lacan became a candidate member of the Société psychanalytique de Paris. He began his private psychoanalytic practice in 1936 whilst still seeing patients at the Sainte-Anne Hospital.

The Marienbad Rupture and Institutional Exile

In 1936, at the Congress of the International Psychoanalytical Association in Marienbad, Lacan presented his first analytic report on the 'Mirror Phase.' The congress chairman, Ernest Jones, terminated the lecture before its conclusion, since he was unwilling to extend Lacan's stated presentation time. Insulted, Lacan left the congress to witness the Berlin Olympic Games. No copy of the original lecture remains, Lacan having decided not to hand in his text for publication in the conference proceedings. This episode reflected a deeper philosophical divide. Lacan discussed the whole range of Freudian concepts, emphasizing the philosophical dimension of Freud's thought and applying concepts derived from structuralism in linguistics and anthropology to his own work, which he augmented with predicate logic and topology. Taking this new direction, and introducing controversial innovations in clinical practice, led to expulsion for Lacan and his followers from the International Psychoanalytic Association. In consequence, Lacan went on to establish new psychoanalytic institutions to promote and develop his work, which he declared to be a 'return to Freud', in opposition to prevalent trends in psychology and institutional psychoanalysis which adapted Freud's ideas to social norms.

Seminars, Écrits, and the Continental Afterlife

From 1952 to 1980, Lacan gave annual seminars in Paris. He published papers that were later collected in the book Écrits. Transcriptions of the seminars 1953–1980 were published. His work made a significant impact on continental philosophy and cultural theory in areas such as post-structuralism, critical theory, feminist theory and film theory, as well as on the practice of psychoanalysis itself. His method was to discuss the whole range of Freudian concepts, emphasizing the philosophical dimension of Freud's thought and applying concepts derived from structuralism in linguistics and anthropology to his own work, which he augmented with predicate logic and topology. This synthesis—part clinical, part mathematical, part literary—made his work as difficult as it was generative, ensuring that decades after his death on 9 September 1981, Lacan remained a figure as divisive in the field as any since Freud himself.