Lacan’s Third
Join Us in June for La Troisième!
Lacan delivered three “Rome discourses” in his career, each one stranger (and more delightful) than the last. The first occurred in 1953 and later appeared in Écrits as “The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis.” The second arrived in 1967 under a more provocative title, which I’m inclined to translate as “Psychoanalysis: Reason for Failure.”
But it wasn’t until Lacan’s third Rome discourse that he pulled out all the stops — though you wouldn’t guess it from his choice of title, “La Troisième,” which simply means “The Third.” Delivered in November 1974, just before the start of his notorious twenty-second seminar, “La Troisième” has been baffling students, scholars, and clinicians ever since.
So you can imagine my surprise when I peeked into Lacan’s “third” last week and discovered not an impenetrable fog of lalangue but, instead, a wonderful discussion of cats — their purring in particular:
The purr, it’s without any doubt the jouissance of the cat. What passes through its larynx or wherever when I stroke it — I don’t know anything about it myself — seems to be passing through its whole body, and it’s this that has brought me to where I want to begin . . .
At which point I knew Lacan’s third Rome discourse would be the one for me. Maybe for you as well? Only one way to find out! Join me (and my cats) next month for a close and careful reading of this key text in Lacanian psychoanalysis!
Schedule of Events:
In addition to sharing recorded lectures with registered participants, I’ll be hosting online discussions of “La Troisième” next month, with the goal of making Lacan’s third Rome discourse clear, coherent, and accessible:
13 June: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, “La Troisième,” pp. 1-45.
27 June: Zoom Discussion, 10am PST. Readings to be discussed: Lacan, “La Troisième,” pp. 46-90.
Registration Costs:
In an effort to keep Lectures on Lacan accessible to all, this series on “La Troisième,” lectures and discussions included, is offered on a donation basis.
The suggested donation for the complete series is $100 for professionals or $50 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 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 published by the University of Chicago Press and recently translated into Italian.
Learn more about Lectures on Lacan and Prof. Dr. McCormick HERE.