Join Our Spring Series on THE SINTHOME (Seminar XXIII)

In the winter of 1975, Jacques Lacan took the stage with a heavy sigh, a pocketful of multi-colored chalk, and a deceptively simple question: How do we keep from falling apart?

In the “unreadable” work of James Joyce, who apparently had no need for psychoanalysis, Lacan claims to have found an answer. What holds our worlds together, especially when traditional supports fall away, is a unique, irreducible kernel of jouissance — a hand-tied psychic knot of enjoyment that Lacan now calls the sinthome.

Is it a bit of sin? Something from home? A weirdly archaic symptoma that has fallen into the Real and now lies buried beyond analysis (signe-tombe)? Or maybe it’s a masterpiece of self-fabrication (synth-homme) which allows the psyche to bind its inherent divisions (syn-thome)? Much as the singular, self-authored deeds of the holy man (saint-homme) allow them to in-ex-sist the Symbolic?

Yes, and more, we discover in Seminar XXIII!

From impossible symptoms to unanalyzable sinthomes, we’re about to learn the art of psychic knotting in times of great upheaval — a singular, self-made technique for holding worlds together when nothing else can.

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Schedule of Events:

In addition to sharing recorded lectures with all registered participants, I’ll be hosting online discussions of Seminar XXIII, with the express goal of making this truly wild text in Lacan’s later thought clear, coherent, and accessible to all. Here’s our meeting schedule, followed by a link to The Sinthome (Seminar XXIII):

13 February: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, The Sinthome (Seminar XXIII), Chapters 1-2.

27 February: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, The Sinthome (Seminar XXIII), Chapters 3-4.

13 March: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, The Sinthome (Seminar XXIII), Chapters 5-6.

27 March: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, The Sinthome (Seminar XXIII), Chapters 7-8.

10 April: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, The Sinthome (Seminar XXIII), Chapters 9-10.

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Registration Costs:

In an effort to keep Lectures on Lacan accessible to all, this spring series on The Sinthome (Seminar XXIII), lectures and discussions included, is offered on a donation basis.

The suggested donation is $200 for professionals or $100 for students and trainees, but any donation, big or small, will allow you to register for the complete 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!

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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.