reporting on The Lacan Event by Thomas Svolos
an intermittent series bringing the Lacanian events of the world to our English-speaking readers
'La Rentrée' is the moment in French life when the summer is over, and everyone returns back to work. While it may not be true, cannot be completely true, from across the ocean, it seems that most people in France, and certainly most psychoanalysts, take the month of August off, and return back on September 1. This year, la rentrée has been marked by a series of special events, announced by Jacques-Alain Miller and Judith Miller in commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Jacques Lacan. We are writing this short report to inform our English-speaking colleagues of what is happening. In France, this is being called 'la Rentrée lacanienne.' Noting the lack of a good English translation for la rentrée, Eric Laurent has suggested a translation of Lacan's Event, which we are modifying and adopting here. It all began before September 1, on August 10, when, in a radio interview, Jacques-Alain Miller (JAM) talked about the release of some new books: Seminar XIX of Lacan; Je parle aux murs, a transcription of a series of lectures that Lacan gave that same year at Saint-Anne Hospital (the original location of his Seminar, prior to the move in 1964 to École Normal Supérieure); and also JAM's own text, Vie de Lacan (Life of Lacan), an essay based on Miller's own Seminar of the past year on the same subject. JAM also created a new electronic publication at that moment, LACAN QUOTIDIEN (The Daily Lacan), with short essays, letters, and other texts from contributors across the world. Selections from LQ will be appearing in English shortly. In addition to the new texts and celebrations, there have been controversies. One of the most significant events has been the decision that JAM made about a week ago to break with Éditions du Seuil. Seuil has published Lacan's work since the publication of Écrits in 1966. In addition to the work of Lacan, including the Seminars, they have also published the work of many others under the collection "le Champ freudien," under the direction of Jacques-Alain and Judith Miller. JAM described in an open letter to the president of Seuil how the publisher was improperly handling the written and transcribed legacy of Lacan. The other major controversy surrounded the publication of a new book about Lacan by Elizabeth Roudinesco. The historian of psychoanalysis claims in her book that Lacan's heirs did not respect Lacan's wishes with regard to burial ceremonies. In an interview in Le Point last week, Judith Miller stated that Roudinesco is wrong on that account and announced that she would be suing her in court. The most recent event was an all-day celebration of the work of Lacan organized by Catherine Clement on Friday, the anniversary of the date of Lacan's death, at the École Normal Supérieure. Many psychoanalysts and writers read from the work of Lacan and spoke of him. The event culminated with a talk by JAM at midnight--his first appearance at the illustrious French school since his student days.
