Rabate offers a systematic genealogy of Lacan's theory of literature, reconstructing a doctrine based upon Freudian insights, and revitalised through close readings of authors as diverse as Poe, Gide, Shakespeare, Plato, Claudel, Genet, Duras and Joyce.

General Editor's Preface.- Lacan from Z to L: Or Against Interpretation.- Lacan from A to L: Basic Lacanian Issues and Concepts.- From Letters to Literature, and Gide.- Poe and the Theory of the Letter.- Hamlet and the Desire of the Mother.- Antigone Between the Beautiful and the Sublime.- Sade: Subverting the Law and the Jouissance of the Other.- Ravishing Duras, or the Gift of Love.- Tragedies and Comedies of Love: Plato, Claudel, Genet.- Joyce's Jouissance, or a New Literary Symptom.- Conclusion.- Annotated Critical Bibliography.- Index.

'... Highly readable, packed with helpful background information, this book is sure to become a required text in literature and Lacan courses.' - Joan Copjec, Director, Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture, University of Buffalo 'In his reading of Lacan (Rabate) brings to bear a deep knowledge of the philosophical and psychological traditions within - and against - which Lacan worked, and an impressive intimacy with the literary texts, ranging form Sophocles' Antigone to Joyce's Finnegans Wake, which inspired so much of his discourse. To read this book is at once to be schooled in the wily iconoclasm of Lacan's cultural engagements and stimulated into fresh thought about the force and function of literature.' - Professor Derek Attridge, University of York

'... Highly readable, packed with helpful background information, this book is sure to become a required text in literature and Lacan courses.' - Joan Copjec, Director, Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture, University of Buffalo 'In his reading of Lacan (Rabate) brings to bear a deep knowledge of the philosophical and psychological traditions within - and against - which Lacan worked, and an impressive intimacy with the literary texts, ranging form Sophocles' Antigone to Joyce's Finnegans Wake, which inspired so much of his discourse. To read this book is at once to be schooled in the wily iconoclasm of Lacan's cultural engagements and stimulated into fresh thought about the force and function of literature.' - Professor Derek Attridge, University of York