Lacan on Love (eBook)

Bruce Fink is a practicing Lacanian psychoanalyst and analytic supervisor. He is a foremost commentator on Lacan and has translated a number of Lacan's works into English, including Écrits and Transference.

Preface vii

Introduction 1

The Symbolic

I. Freudian Preludes: Love Triangles 9
Obsessives in Love * Hysterics in Love

II. Freudian Conundrums: Love Is Incompatible with Desire 16
"Where They Love They Do Not Desire" * "Where They Desire They Do Not Love" * On Women, Love, and Desire * Too Little * Too Much

III. Lacan's Reading of Plato's Symposium 33
Love Is Giving What You Don't Have * Not Having and Not Knowing * Love as a Metaphor: The Signification of Love * The Miracle of Love * Love in the Analytic Context

The Imaginary

IV. Freudian Preludes: Narcissism 55
Narcissism and Love * Love for the Ego-Ideal

V. Lacan's Imaginary Register 62
Animals in the Imaginary * Animals in Love * The Formative Role of Images in Human Beings * The Mirror Stage * The Image We Love More Than Ourselves: The Ideal Ego * The Myth of Narcissus * Sibling Rivalry * Lacan's "Beloved": Crimes of Passion * "Family Complexes" * Transitivism * The Intrusion (or Fraternal) Complex and the "Solipsistic Ego" * Love and Psychosis * The Dangers of Imaginary-Based Love * Imaginary Passion in the Analytic Setting

The Real

VI. Love and the Real 93
Repetition Compulsion * The Unsymbolizable * Love at First Sight * The Other Jouissance * Love Is Real? * Love and the Drives * Love as a Link

General Considerations on Love

VII. Languages and Cultures of Love 107
Dependency (or so-called Natural Love) * Attachment * Friendship * Agape (or Christian Love) * Hatred * Attraction * Fixation on the Human Form (Beauty) * Physical Love, Sexual Desire, Lust, Concupiscence, Sex Drive * Fin'Amor (Courtly Love) * Romantic Love * Falling in Love (à la Stendhal) * Other Languages and Cultures of Love

VIII. Reading Plato with Lacan: Further Commentary on Plato's Symposium 163
The Relationship between Form and Content in the Symposium * Homosexual Love as a Simplified Model * Phaedrus: Love and Theology * Pausanias: The Psychology of the Rich * Eryximachus: Love as Harmony * Agathon's Speech * Socrates' Speech and the In-Between (Metaxú) * Love Triangles Revisited * The Six Stages of Socrates' Speech * After Socrates' Speech * The "Mystery" of the Relationship between Socrates and Alcibiades * Socrates' "Interpretation" * Socrates' "Mistake" * Parting Shot

IX. Some Possible Conclusions about Love 200
Unanswered Questions * Love and Psychoanalysis

Notes 207

References 236

Index 246

"Lacan on Love is not only an invaluable aid for those embarking on the study of Lacan's seminar on transference, but also essential reading for anyone interested in the question of love and human passion. Drawing on a wide range of literary and cultural references, Bruce Fink guides the reader with clarity, precision and insight in this perceptive and thought-provoking book."
Darian Leader, psycholanalyst

"Love, it turns out, has a history. And Lacan on Love beautifully traces that history through the lens of Lacan?s seminar on transference, combining an adventurous cultural investigation of ?love in the western world? with actual field notes concerning the way we love now. Bruce Fink takes on our most tired and our most treasured cliches about love and subjects them all to rigorous analysis, producing insights that are anything but expected."
Jessica Rosenfeld, Washington University in St. Louis