In this first English translation of a classic text by one of the foremost commentators on Lacan's work, Nasio eloquently demonstrates the clinical and practical import of Lacan's theory, even in its most difficult or obscure moments.

Translators' Introduction Five Lessons on the Psychoanalytic Theory of Jacques Lacan Prefatory Remarks First Lesson: The Unconscious and Jouissance First Principle: "The unconscious is structured like a language" Second Principle: "There is no sexual relation" Second Lesson: The Existence of the Unconscious When can the unconscious be said to exist? The unconscious manifests itself in "lalangue" The unconscious is a structure that actualizes itself The unconscious is the displacement of the signifier between the patient and the analyst The subject of the unconscious Third Lesson: The Concept of Object a The therapeutic goal of psychoanalysis Object a The problem of the other The formal status of object a The "corporal" status of object a The breast as object a Summary on object a: the need-demand-desire triad Fourth Lesson: Fantasy That which is proper to psychoanalysis Clinical observations on fantasy The body as a core of jouissance Fifth Lesson: The Body Sexual, symbolic, and imaginary body Partial body and jouissance A clinical vignette Formations of object a Appendix: The Concept of the Subject of the Unconscious Translated by Boris Belay The relation of the subject to unconscious knowledge The relation of the subject to logic The relation of the subject to castration The layered subject of the unconscious The concept of unconscious knowledge Notes Index

"Nasio's Five Lessons provides an incisive entry into the densities of Lacan's difficult discourse. Focusing on the two principles of the unconscious as 'structured like a language' and of jouissance as signifying that 'there is no sexual relation,' Nasio takes up Lacanian theory in a refreshingly nondogmatic way. The complex role of the signifier, the vexing status of the subject of the unconscious, and the enigmatic object a are illuminated in the context of fantasy and the body. This is a remarkable work, as pithy as it is profound. The translation by Pettigrew and Raffoul makes Nasio's text—and thus Lacan's Écrits—lucidly accessible." — Edward S. Casey, State University of New York at Stony Brook