The Title of the Letter: A Reading of Lacan (Suny Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

This book is a close reading of Jacques Lacan s seminal essay, The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason Since Freud, selected for the particular light it casts on Lacan s complex relation to linguistics, psychoanalysis, and philosophy. It clarifies the way Lacan renews or transforms the psychoanalytic field, through his diversion of Saussure s theory of the sign, his radicalization of Freud s fundamental concepts, and his subversion of dominant philosophical values. The authors argue, however, that Lacan s discourse is marked by a deep ambiguity: while he invents a new language, he nonetheless maintains the traditional metaphysical motifs of systemacity, foundation, and truth."