Anne Tomiche

Marcelle Marini's book on Jacques Lacan is not indispensable reading on the subject, but it sits well enough alongside works like Sherry Turkle's Psychoanalytic Politics, Catherine Clément's Lives and Legends of Jacques Lacan, and Jane Gallop's The Daughter's Seduction as a text that captures the decline and fall of Lacan and the ensuing chaos it produced among his disciples.

The first half of Marini's book is dedicated to examining this situation, five years after Lacan's death. Marini is well aware that the tendency has been either to worship or abhor Lacan, and she does a superb job of falling into neither trap. Turkle's book is probably superior to Marini's account in both detail and insight, but Marini has the advantage of being an insider, and that gives her account an invaluable edge.

The second half of Marini's book remains interesting, but is now somewhat obsolete thanks to the historical and biographical work done by Élisabeth Roudinesco. Marini gives two timelines in this part: a blow-by-blow account of Lacan's rise and fall, followed by an exhaustive list of Lacan's publications together with a basic commentary on their contents.

Personally, I liked Marini's measured approach to Lacan, which balances criticism with appreciation in just the right proportion. There are, of course, many better books on this topic, but Marini is writing at a special time that makes her deserve a place in that larger history.… (mer)