Graphing Desire, Writing Dreams

Following Freud and Lacan, we will consider the dream as a rupture and writing of the unconscious from an Other scene, not as a narrative with a hidden meaning.  The seminar will consider the field of the Other and the place of the analyst in guiding the analysand to hear the rupture of a dream and its signifiers. The seminar will focus on Lacan’s graph of desire as a structuring logic for subject formation as well as a guide for psychoanalytic treatment.

Participants will present dreams from their patients/ analysands several times in the course of the seminar.  This is not a case study of the patient, but a case of the-analyst-in training working under constraints of the Lacanian clinic and transference.  Presenters will focus on signifiers as traces of dreams and explain their interventions in the unfolding dream work, following the effects of the interventions over time.

Respecting the limits of language and the unknown unsayable that comes with dreams, we will listen to the presenter in the place of the analyst speaking to the logic that is at work in her or his interventions. The aim of the seminar is to develop a series of writings ending with a condensed 10-minute writing that highlights the dream logic.

As a condition of joining the seminar, everyone will sign a confidentiality agreement. Limited to 12 participants presenting cases with dreams.

This seminar will consist of short lectures, activities and participant presentations. This is writing intensive course and participants will be expected to present from either their case material or the readings each time we meet.

Readings:

Please read or re-read the following foundational texts prior to our first meeting.

Freud, S. (1915-16). The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XV: Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (Part II).

Freud, S. (1933). New Introductory Lectures On Psycho-Analysis. The  Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud,  Volume XXII (1932-1936): New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis and Other Works, Lecture XXIX Revision of the Theory of Dreams (pages 6-29).

Additional readings will be added monthly during the year.  I will continue to draw from Ecrits and Seminar V.

Lacan, J. (2007). Ecrits (B. Fink, Trans.). WW Norton.

Lacan, J. (1998). Seminar 5-Formations of the unconscious. (R Grigg, Trans.). WW Norton.

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Dates and times: monthly, September to May, 1st Fridays, 12–2pm Eastern Standard Time.

Fee: $500 or School Tuition.

Note: CE credits are available for this seminar (2 per meeting).

Contact: Diana Cuello, dianacuellophd@gmail.com.