Jacques Lacan’s Seminar XIX
… or Worse

A critical study

Presented by Russell Grigg

This seminar was held during Semester II, 2021

“There is no such thing as a sexual relation”, Lacan declared in Seminar XVII. In turning to the oddly-titled seminar of two years later, . . . or Worse, Seminar XIX (1971-1972), we confront the myriad consequences of this thesis, which Lacan explores from a variety of angles. His thesis and its consequences are the focus of this semester organised around three broad themes:

1. The sexual relation: its non-existence and the impossibility of jouissance

2. The One: that there is some One; the One-all-alone

3. The real: the real of the body and the ways in which the analytic discourse might, via language, touch something of the real

And, in passing, some philosophy approached with a light touch,
even if it is Plato’s Parmenides, Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Frege’s Begriffsschrift

Russell Grigg PhD studied and lectured in the Department of Psychoanalysis at the University of Paris VIII
He is a member of the Lacan Circle of Australia, the École de la Cause freudienne
the New Lacanian School, and the World Association of Psychoanalysis

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Art by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Adam and Eve, 1528