ERRATUM OF

The
Four Fundamental
Concepts of
Psycho-Analysis

Jacques Lacan
author of Écrits
 erratum of

THE
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL
CONCEPTS OF
PSYCHO-ANALYSIS
 JACQUES LACAN

erratum of

THE
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL
CONCEPTS OF
PSYCHO-ANALYSIS
Edited by
JACQUES-ALAIN MILLER
Translated from the French by
ALAN SHERIDAN
Re-edited by
PARASITIC VENTURES PRESS

r
PARASITIC VENTURES PRESS
Toronto
 CONTENTS

Preface to the English-Language Edition page vii

Parasitic Ventures Press, Toronto ON
Editor’s Note xi

Published in Canada in 2011.

THE UNCONSCIOUS AND REPETITION

Source text is the 1981 W.W. Norton paperback edition of Jacques Lacan’s
The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-analysis, as edited by Jacques-Alain
Miller and translated by Alan Sheridan. This is not an authorized edition. 4 Of the Network of Signifiers 42

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication OF THE GAZE AS Object Petit a
Lacan, Jacques, 1901-1981
Erratum of The four fundamental concepts of psycho-analysis / Jacques Lacan ; 8 The Line and Light 91
Jacques-Alain Miller, editor ; Alan Sheridan, translator.

Translation of: Les quatre concepts fondamentaux de la psychanalyse, originally

published as v. 11 of the author’s Le séminaire de Jacques Lacan
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-9813263-5-1

1. Psychoanalysis. I. Miller, Jacques-Alain II. Sheridan, Alan III. Title.

IV. Title: Four fundamental concepts of psycho-analysis.

BF173.L33 2011 150.19’5 C2010-908123-4

ISBN 978-0-9813263-5-1
v
 CONTENTS

TO CONCLUDE PREFACE TO THE

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDITION
Index 283
When the space of a lapsus no longer carries any meaning (or
interpretation), then only is one sure that one is in the uncon-
scious. One knows.
But one has only to be aware of the fact to find oneself out-
side it. There is no friendship there, in that space that supports
this unconscious.
All I can do is tell the truth. No, that isn’t so—I have
missed it. There is no truth that, in passing through awareness,
does not lie.
But one runs after it all the same. …

vi vii
viii ix
 EDITOR’S NOTE
Our intention here was to be as unobtrusive as possible . . .

P. V. P.

xi
xii xiii
xiv 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11
12 13
17
18 19
20 21
22 23
24 25
26 27
28 29
30 31
32 33
34 35
36 37
38 39
40 41
42 43
44 45
46 47
 OF THE NETWORK OF SIGNIFIERS

Try to read this chapter five, line by line, in some language

other than French. Those who do not know German should
read it in the English translation. You will find this translation
— I say this in passing — quite entertaining. You will see, for
example, that the translation of instinct for Trieb, and instinctual
for triebhaft has so many drawbacks for the translator that,
although it is maintained throughout quite uniformly — thus
basing the whole edition on a complete misunderstanding,
since Trieb and instinct have nothing in common — the discord
becomes so impossible at one point that the implications of a
sentence cannot be carried through by translating Triebhaft by
instinctual. A footnote becomes necessary — At the beginning of
the next paragraph the word Trieb . . . is much more revealing of
urgency than the word instinctual. Trieb gives you a kick in the arse,
my friends — quite different from so-called instinct. That’s how
psycho-analytic teaching is passed on!

48 49
50 51
52 53
54 55
56 57
58 59
60 61
62 63
64
67
68 69
70 71
72 73
74 75
76 77
78 79
80 81
82 83
84 85
86 87
88 89
90 91
92 93
94 95
 OF THE GAZE

No doubt, in the depths

of my eye, the picture is painted. The picture, certainly, is in my
eye. But I am not in the picture.

96 97
98 99
100 101
102 103
104 105
106 107
108 109
110 111
112 113
114 115
116 117
118 119
123
124 125
126 127
128 129
130 131
132 133
134 135
136 137
138 139
140 141
142 143
144 145
146 147
148 149
150 151
152 153
154 155
156 157
158 159
160 161
162 163
164 165
166 167
168 169
170 171
172 173
174 175
176 177
178 179
180 181
182 183
184 185
186 187
188 189
190 191
192 193
194 195
196 197
198 199
200
203
204 205
206 207
208 209
210 211
212 213
214 215
216 217
218 219
220 221
222 223
224 225
226 227
228 229
230 231
232 233
234 235
236 237
238 239
240 241
242 243
244 245
246 247
248 249
250 251
252 253
254 255
256 257
258 259
260
263
264 265
266 267
268 269
270 271
272 273
274 275
276 277
278 279
280 281
 INDEX

alienation, see under subject

chance, see under repetition

arbitrary, see under repetition

282 283
 INDEX INDEX

Freud, S., 49   optics (geometral and perspective),

   96
  painting, picture, 96

  screen, 96

  reversal into its opposite (Verkeh-

   rung), vii, 96

  Freud’s works:

   Beyond the Pleasure Principle

    (Jenseits des Lustprinzips), 49

doubt, colophon of, see under subject

drive (Trieb), 49

eye, see under gaze

gap, see under unconscious

gaze, eye, scopic field, 96

284 285
 INDEX INDEX

instinct, instinctual, 49

optics, see under gaze

painting, the picture, see under gaze

psycho-analysis, psycho-analytic
   practice, praxis, experience,
   technique, treatment,

286 287
 INDEX INDEX
psych-analysis­—contd.
   49
  network of signifiers, 49

  analyst’s desire, 49
subject, 49, 96

  training of analysts, training-

   analysis, 49
screen, see under gaze

signifier,

reversal into its opposite (Verkehrung),

   see under drive

288 289
 INDEX
Unbewusste, see under unconscious
unconscious (Unbewusste) vii

training analysis, of analysts, see

  under psycho-analysis

truth, vii

290
 The Four Fundamental Concepts
of Psycho-Analysis
JACQUES LACAN
Dr. Lacan’s writings, and especially the seminars for which he has
become famous, have provoked intense controversies in French analytic
circles, requiring as they do a radical reappraisal of the legacy be-
queathed by Freud. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis is
based on a year’s seminar, which is of particular importance because he
was addressing a larger, less specialized audience than ever before, among
whom he could not assume familiarity with his work. For his listeners
then, and for his readers now, he wanted “to introduce a certain coherence
into the major concepts on which psycho-analysis is based,” namely, the
unconscious, repetition, the transference, and the drive.
  This particular seminar, in this particular edition, has often been used
as the basic text for Anglo-American scholars and students alike seduced
by the possibilities inherent in Lacanian psycho-analysis. In particular,
notions of the gaze and ruminations on the role of subjectivity in two-
dimensional representations have been adopted wholesale by spheres of
film studies, art history, and visual studies. By default, Alan Sheridan,
through this translation, has been key in the reception of Lacan in the
Anglo-American academy. Alas, particularly for visual studies, a key phrase
in this edition differs significantly from the French edition. An internet
search proves that both versions of this phrase have been quoted equally
in North American scholarly writings.
  While arguments could be made as to the apt-ness of continuing to
use Sheridan’s translation as it exists – and we at Parasitic Ventures Press
considered the possibility of presenting one such – we offer, instead, this
edition, an Erratum of The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis,
to allow our readers to decide for themselves.

r
ISBN 978-0-9813263-5-1

  Parasitic
  Ventures
  Press