Join Our New Series on Seminar XXII: R.S.I.
Why did Lacan choose R.S.I. as the title of Seminar XXII (1974-75)?
Because it’s a careful and sustained exploration of the Real, Symbolic, and Imaginary, of course!
This isn’t false — but it’s also not the whole truth.
At the start of Seminar XXII, Lacan also invites us to see R.S.I. as r-si, which is not an acronym to be deciphered but a saying to be read aloud.
In French, the letter “r” is pronounced erre, meaning to drift or wander astray (a suggestive nod to Lacan’s previous seminar, Les non-dupes errent). And when we add si, meaning “if”, our ears hear something more: erre-si — “if it strays.”
Listen even closer, and another French word emerges — hérésie — which means exactly what you think: heresy.
From R.S.I. to r-si to erre-si to hérésie — what is Lacan telling us at the start of Seminar XXII? That Lacanian psychoanalysis is an invitation to stray from established clinical and conceptual paths, daring us to wander, even errantly so, into uncharted analytic territory — often to the point of heresy.
In this sense, Seminar XXII isn’t just a careful and sustained exploration of the Real, the Symbolic, and the Imaginary. It’s a divergent, heterodox study of these classic Lacanian registers.
And not one register at time, in a sequential line of inquiry, but, as we’re going to see, all at once in a certain planar diagram — the wild redrawing of which in Seminar XXII further attests to Lacan’s belief that radical psychoanalytic thought often requires us to err on the side of heresy:
Schedule of Events:
In addition to sharing recorded lectures with registered participants, I’ll be hosting several online discussions in this series on Seminar XXII, with the goal of making this key text in Lacan’s later teaching clear, coherent, and accessible. Here’s our meeting schedule, followed by a link to the version of R.S.I. we’ll be reading:
26 September: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, R.S.I., pp. 1-25.
10 October: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, R.S.I., pp. 26-56.
24 October: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, R.S.I., pp. 57-92.
7 November: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, R.S.I., pp. 93-128.
21 November: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, R.S.I., pp. 129-162.
5 December: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, R.S.I., pp. 163-198.
Registration Costs:
In an effort to keep Lectures on Lacan accessible to all, this autumn series on Seminar XXII, lectures and discussions included, is 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 register for the series.
To register or donate via Venmo, scan the QR code below or use @smlmccrmck.
To donate 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 previously appointed as 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 published by the University of Chicago Press and recently translated into Italian.
Learn more about Lectures on Lacan and Prof. Dr. McCormick HERE.
very good, l m Salvatore….from Milano italy…and you?
That was a really important point I think it also hints at the real de-centering force at play.