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The translation into English of Lacan's writings and the publishing of critical and appreciative comment about them have at last reached the point at which interested psychoanalysts not familiar with the original French can come to informed first-hand opinions of Lacan's work. This volume is the first of the seminars conducted by Lacan to appear in English; it is actually the eleventh of the series, given in 1964, and published in France in 1973. Each seminar consists of a course of lectures, recorded on tape and then edited, which probably means that in printed form they have been fitted out with more logical connections than Lacan's oral style permits. Let the reader beware, however, if he or she hopes that the editor has domesticated Lacan; he has not. Each lecture is followed by a few questions from the floor, with replies by Lacan. The questions are asked by initiates into Lacan's concerns and vocabulary and consequently bear little resemblance to the questions that a newcomer would ask. There is a glossary, however, that is moderately helpful.
First of all, what are the "four fundamental concepts"? They are familiar ones: the unconscious, repetition, the transference, and the drive. More traditional analysts might propose other categories, but these are good enough. What Lacan does with them is another story. I believe that if there is one unifying assumption that will help us grasp the drift (here the most appropriate word) of Lacan's manipulation of these ideas, it is this: all psychoanalytic concepts, including these, must be understood with reference to the psychoanalytic situation itself. While he is not consistent in this or any other respect, Lacan originates his concepts in a system of at least two participants, analyst and analysand, each of whom exists for the