Lacan and Psychoanalytic Obsolescence

This book explores the importance of Lacans role as an irritant within psychoanalysis, and how Freud and Lacan saw that as key to ensuring that psychoanalysis remained fresh and vital rather than becoming obsolescent. Drawing on Freuds thinking as well as Lacans, Rabate examines how Lacans unwillingness to allow psychoanalytic thinking to become stale or pigeonholed into one part of life was key in his thinking. By constantly returning to psychoanalytic ideas in new and evolving ways, Lacan kept psychoanalysis moving and changing, much as Socrates did for philosophical thinking in classical Athens. This gadfly or irritant role gave him free reign to explore all aspects of psychoanalytic thinking and treatment, and how it can permeate all aspects of life, both in the consulting room and beyond. Drawing on a deep understanding of Lacans work as well as Freuds, this book is key reading for all those seeking to understand why Lacans work remains so important and so challenging for contemporary psychoanalysis.