Lionel Bailly – författare

From l'objet petit a to the mirror stage – the ultimate introduction to Lacan's canon'Well-written, carefully structured and broadly accessible.' Dany Nobus, Chair of Psychology and Psychoanalysis, Brunel University and author of Jaques LacanJacques Lacan was one of the most important psychoanalysts ever to have lived. Building upon the work of Sigmund Freud, he sought to refine Freudian insights with the use of linguistics, arguing that 'the structure of unconscious is like a language'. Controversial throughout his lifetime both for adopting mathematical concepts in his psychoanalytic framework and for advocating therapy sessions of varying length, he is widely misunderstood and often unfairly dismissed as impenetrable.In this clear, wide-ranging primer, Lionel Bailly demonstrates how Lacan’s ideas are still vitally relevant to contemporary issues of mental health treatment. Defending Lacan from his numerous detractors, past and present, Bailly guides the reader through Lacan’s canon, from 'l'objet petit a' to 'the mirror stage' and beyond. Including coverage of developments in Lacanian psychoanalysis since his death, this is the perfect introduction to the great modern theorist.'Simply the clearest explanation of Lacan anywhere. The author succeeds where almost everyone else has failed. Highly readable and entertaining.' Peter Fonagy, Professor of Psychoanalysis, UCL & Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre

The Lacanian tradition is unique among psychoanalytic schools in its influence upon academic fields such as literature, philosophy, cultural and critical studies. This book aims to make Lacan's ideas accessible and relevant also to mainstream psychoanalysts, and to showcase developments in Lacanian thinking since his death in 1981. The volume highlights the clinical usefulness of such concepts as the paternal metaphor, the formula of fantasy, psychic structure, the central role of desire and the interlinking of the individual subject in the matrix of the Other. While these themes are woven through all the papers, each is a highly individual reflection upon some aspect of Lacanian theory, practice or history. Bernard Burgoyne's close study of the sources of Lacan's academic inspirations clarifies many of his ideas; Sara Flanders' remarkable overview of the field of French psychoanalysis situates Lacan firmly at its centre; while Lionel Bailly's exposition of Lacan's version of the Oedipus Complex reclaims a currently fashionable area of psychoanalysis for the man who alone in the 1950s made the case for the necessity of the tripartite structure of object-relations in the psyche. Berges and Balbo's work shows Lacanian thinking presaging recent evidence-based ideas of how mother-baby interactions bring into being the ability to mentalise and the development of subjectivity itself. Nobus' paper encapsulates the trajectory and aim of a Lacanian analysis. These pages will, the editors hope, open the reader's eyes to the fertility and importance of the Lacan tradition and bring it closer into the fold of psychoanalytic thought.