Dr. Judith Gurewich presents a talk discussing the impact of Lacan’s thought and writing in America thirty years after initial publication.

Why does Lacan still matter thirty years after the Other Press started publishing Lacanian books? And why, in what Walter Benjamin called a “moment of danger,” are books and teachings that approach Lacan simply, cogently and pragmatically, needed with more urgency than ever before? This talk argues that the enduring value of Lacanian theory lies in the tools it offers for understanding how subjects choose their neurosis and devise psychic strategies that are at once logical and self-defeating responses to the world they inhabit. When properly understood, these tools transcend the political and cultural contexts of their origin. Grounded in structural anthropology and structural linguistics, Lacan’s conception of human nature proves remarkably adaptable to contemporary conditions, in which the Oedipal complex no longer follows patriarchal scripts and the meanings of “man” and “woman” have been profoundly reworked. Ultimately, Lacanian theory is not about social identities or their representations but about desire itself. While the world changes, the unconscious continues to speak in code. What can we learn from the experience of a press director who pioneered the dissemination of Lacanian ideas in the United States?

Judith Gurewich is the publisher of Other Press, a position she has held since 2002. Under her leadership, Other Press has become a highly respected and award-winning publisher of literary fiction and non-fiction, including titles such as Sarah Bakewell’s How to Live: A Life of Montaigne, Kamel Daoud’s The Meursault Investigation, and Simon Mawer’s The Glass Room. Born in Canada and raised in Belgium, she holds a law degree from Brussels University as well as a master’s of law from Columbia University and a PhD in sociology from Brandeis University. She now resides in Cambridge, MA. Judith is also a Lacanian trained psychoanalyst, practicing part-time.