New Series on Seminar XX
Lectures & Discussions Begin in September
What should we call Seminar XX? On Feminine Sexuality? The Limits of Love and Knowledge? Given our recent series on . . . Or Worse, and our subsequent sessions on “L’Étourdit,” where the psychoanalytic act of speaking en corps took centerstage, I’m inclined to title Seminar XX as Lacan did: Encore.
With this choice of title, Lacan was not trying to be clever. It was stupidity, in fact, that drove his decision — the same stupidity which ensures that every act of speaking, his and ours alike, takes place en corps, “in body,” and every body that speaks, yours and mine alike, does so within a certain discourse.
At stake is the stupidity that conditions what I named my seminar after this year and that is pronounced "encore." You see the risk involved. I am only telling you that to show you what constitutes the weight of my presence here — it's that you enjoy it. My sole presence — at least I dare believe it — my sole presence in my discourse, my sole presence is my stupidity (Encore, p. 12/17).
To be sure, in this series on Encore (Seminar XX), we’ll learn lots about love, desire, jouissance, knowledge, and feminine sexuality — and often in nuanced discussions of psychoanalytic theory and technique, logical and mathematical inquiry, and various intellectual and cultural traditions. But it’s the clinical and conceptual import of stupidity, more than anything else, that this series aims to cultivate.
In addition to sharing weekly recorded lectures with all registered participants, I will be hosting regular online discussions throughout the series — and always with an eye toward making this key text in Lacanian psychoanalysis clear, coherent, and accessible to all.
Learn more and register to join below!
Schedule of Events:
6 September: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, Encore (Seminar XX), Preface + Chapter I.
20 September: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, Encore (Seminar XX), Chapters II + III.
4 October: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, Encore (Seminar XX), Chapters IV + V
18 October: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, Encore (Seminar XX), Chapters VI + VII
1 November: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, Encore (Seminar XX), Chapter VIII + IX
15 November: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, Encore (Seminar XX), Chapters X + XI.
Registration Costs:
In an effort to keep Lectures on Lacan accessible to all, this series on Encore (Seminar XX), lectures and discussions included, will be offered on a donation basis.
The suggested donation for the complete series is $200 for professionals or $100 for students and trainees, but any donation, big or small, will allow you to join the series. To register via Venmo, scan the QR code below or use @smlmccrmck. To register via PayPal, click here.
Thank you for supporting Lectures on Lacan!
About Prof. Dr. McCormick:
Samuel McCormick, Ph.D., is an award-winning teacher and scholar. He lectures widely on Lacanian psychoanalysis, is Professor of Communication Studies at San Francisco State University, and was recently appointed EURIAS & Marie-Curie Research Fellow at Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in Denmark. His first book, Letters to Power: Public Advocacy Without Public Intellectuals, won the Franklyn S. Haiman Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Freedom of Expression, the James A. Winans - Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address, and the Everett Lee Hunt Award. His second book, The Chattering Mind: A Conceptual History of Everyday Talk, was recently published by the University of Chicago Press, with an Italian translation to be published later this year.
More about Lectures on Lacan and Prof. Dr. McCormick HERE.
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