Ecrits: The First Complete Edition in English

"Psychoanalysis has taught us that no lapsus is involuntary. A slip of the pen offers direct access to the unconscious, and one can learn much from reading typing errors and erasures--as the French have it, literature equals 'lis tes ratures'.

The opening page of Bruce Fink's English translation of Jacques Lacan's Ecrits offers such a Freudian slip that would have delighted the late French psychoanalyst, who passed away in 1981. On the first page after the title page, the copyright to the original version mentions 'Les Editions du Deuil' instead of referring to 'Les Editions du Seuil', the well-known French publishing house. 'Deuil' pour 'Seuil', mourning instead of threshold: the reader encounters death on the doorstep, he stumbles upon grief at the brink, and sorrow invites itself in.

A Freudian slip is like saying one thing, but meaning your mother. What this typing error suggests, having passed the vigilance of several proof readers, is that we are in mourning of a certain event, of a presence that is forever missing. Only traces remain, but the word is no longer here, and we are reduced to deciphering a script through and beyond its erasures.

Which brings us to a central question: can Lacan pass the test of translation, and is it possible to read his Ecrits in English? Some French authors were meant to be translated. I, for one, find it much easier to read Jacques Derrida in English than in French, although I was born and bred in France and was fortunate enough to attend some of Derrida's lectures at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.

But Lacan, who also lectured at the ENS, is another matter. I am not even sure that his teachings were really meant to be published (publication of the Seminaire indeed led to a major controversy). He was a magician of the spoken word, and his seminar was a permanent happening as well as a Parisian social event. But his magic seemed to vanish when his words were couched on paper.

And the English translation makes it even blander. Take for instance Lacan's famous quip that "capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Socialism is the reverse". Bruce Fink has a circumvoluted sentence about "the exploitation of one man by another, which is the definition of capitalism, as we know. And socialism, then? It is the opposite". The meaning is there, but the spirit is gone."
~ Written on 2008-05-21

"While Lacan is in and of himself very difficult, this is a lovely complilation. Everything you need to atleast attempt to understand Lacan. Best of Luck, it's very much worth it!"
~ Written on 2007-09-22

"This is a treat - the first complete English translation of Lacan's Ecrits with a wonderful translation by Bruce Fink. After reading a couple pieces, I compared with Sheridan's previous partial translation and found a number of differences. Overall, Fink tends to be more readable and, I suspect, accurate.

Since you're probably already aware of Lacan's thought and importance, I won't go into that here and will restrict my comments to this particular edition. Fink provides endnotes on the translation of certain difficult words and explains how he dealt with them, sometimes with specific examples for particularly tricky sections. It's clear that he understands Lacan's text inside and out. Additionally, his endnotes prove very helpful in understanding some of the German and Latin in Lacan's writing. Because I'm not an expert in psychoanalysis, I found Fink's explanations of certain terms and ideas very helpful.

Lacan provides an index of major concerts, but this was a bit different than what I was expecting. Rather than explicitly stating "The Symbolic Order means . . . ", he gives a general area where the read is encouraged to discover its essence. This is, all things considered, probably a better way to handle the situation for, as we know, Lacan's concepts do not fit into neat little summaries or paraphrases.

Overall, Norton did a great job putting this together. Provided you have the time to sit down and really spend some time with these essays, I definitely recommend this. Even if you don't always agree with Lacan's thought, Ecrits provides some excellent mental stimulation"
~ Written on 2007-03-03