Analyzed by Lacan: A Personal Account Betty Milan, Bloomsbury, 2024,  132 pp., paperback, ISBN: 978-8-7651-0619-8

Published online: 12 July 2024

© The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024

Analyzed by Lacan: A Personal Account by Brazilian psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, professor, mother, and writer Betty Milan is the author’s twenty-seventh book and is comprised of three distinct texts: first, “Why Lacan,” a memoir (translated by Chris Vanderwees) tracing Milan’s own analysis with psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in Paris between 1973 and 1978; second, “Goodbye Doctor,” a play (translated by Clifford E. Landers) upon which the 2022 film Adieu Lacan directed by Richard Ledes is based; and, third, “An Interview with Mari Ruti,” which is, to my knowledge, the last published interview conducted by the late, beloved, feminist critical theorist Mari Ruti (translated by Chris Vanderwees). Alongside reading the book for this review, I watched the striking Adieu Lacan, listened to a beautiful interview between Milan and psychoanalytic clinician Matthew Pieknik (2024) on New Books in Psychoanalysis, and also happened to be listening to Beyoncé’s latest album Cowboy Carter (2024).

While the relationship between Milan and Beyoncé may, admittedly, be more tangential than the others, my hope is that this freer association may help me follow the dream logic Milan describes as being central to her successful analysis with Lacan, while also endeavouring to honour Ruti’s love of music and pop culture. On Beyoncé’s latest album, American country icons make guest appearances, including (alongside Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson) the first commercially successful Black female country music artist Linda Martell. Two tracks on the album include spoken word commentary from Martell, including her confrontation with the vexed question of genre: “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they?/ … In theory, they have a simple little definition that’s easy to understand/ But in practice, well,