Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Todd McGowan, "The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Lacan" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Helena Bissing
Guest: Todd McGowan

Overview

This episode features a deep and thought-provoking conversation between host Helena Bissing and author Todd McGowan, discussing his new book, The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Lacan. While nominally an introduction, McGowan’s work is also described as a polemic, offering both accessible explanations and his distinct perspective on Lacan’s notoriously opaque thinking. The discussion covers McGowan’s unique motivation for writing the book, key Lacanian concepts, the balance between clarity and jargon in both Lacan’s and McGowan’s writing, the intersection of psychoanalysis and culture (especially capitalism), and the challenge of theorizing subjectivity at the crossroads of biology and culture.

Main Theme

The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Lacan seeks not only to elucidate Lacan's difficult ideas for newcomers but also to critically engage with and challenge aspects of Lacanian psychoanalysis. McGowan emphasizes clarity and accessibility, pushing back against Lacan's penchant for jargon, and frames his account through both Kantian and Hegelian lenses. The episode also delves into topics of desire, subjectivity, the “drive,” capitalism, and the limits of both psychobiography and theoretical reductionism.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Motivation Behind the Book and Its Unusual Origin (01:56-04:57)

• McGowan shares that he was initially reluctant to write the book; it was conceived as a coauthored project with his late friend Mari Ruti.
  • “...she just wouldn't take no for an answer and I couldn't say no to her, so I agreed.” (02:13, Todd McGowan)
• After Ruti’s untimely death, McGowan was encouraged to finish the book alone, resulting in a "polemic" more than a standard introduction.
  • “It’s not a passion project. … I just did it because she wanted me to.” (03:19, Todd McGowan)
  • The final book departs from typical introductions by strongly reflecting his own critical voice, which he acknowledges might invite controversy.

2. Introduction vs. Polemic: Style & Approach (04:57-08:30)

• The book operates in tension between being an "introduction" and an opinionated critique.
• McGowan aims for a text that does not simply persuade the reader to be Lacanian, but rather, opens up the complexities and contradictions in Lacan’s thought for engagement.
  • “I was not trying to persuade people to be Lacanian at all.” (06:52, Todd McGowan)
• The Cambridge editorial process and peer feedback validated this unusual approach.

3. Clarity vs. Jargon & the Challenge of Writing on Lacan (08:30-13:47)

• McGowan, influenced by Hegel and committed to demystifying theory, positions himself in direct opposition to Lacan’s deliberate obscurantism.
  • “Not only do I not agree with it, I hate it.” (09:41, Todd McGowan)
  • Appreciates Hegel’s avoidance of jargon, contrasting with Lacan’s inventiveness in coining new terms.
• He favors translation and simplification (e.g., “jouissance” → “enjoyment”) to maximize accessibility and dismantle barriers of elite theoretical discourse.
  • “All we … need is another jargony term … then it just puts up a barrier. … I’m very much of an egalitarian and … thought should try to be accessible to everybody.” (12:02, Todd McGowan)

4. Desire, Lack, and the Hegelian Connection (15:43-22:09)

• The discussion pivots to the famous Lacanian (and Hegelian) belief that "desire is structured around lack."
  • Helena probes whether for Hegel/Lacan, desire is animated only by lack or also by the tension between lack and fulfillment.
  • McGowan clarifies:
    • Both Lacan and Hegel maintain that identity is found "in what is other to it," and thus fulfillment never fully resolves the dynamic of desire.
    • “That identity of identity in difference is not the end of desire. That is the fuel of desire…” (18:58, Todd McGowan)
    • Even encounters of recognition never eliminate the structural lack at the core of subjectivity.
  • This dynamic is continuous–there’s always “something you don’t quite understand or you’re not going to be driven to desire to engage that thinker…” (14:09, Todd McGowan)

5. Big Other, Subjectivity, and the Challenge to Intersubjectivity (22:13-27:01)

• Helena raises questions about difference, recognition, and the “other.”
  • McGowan stresses that for Lacan (and arguably Hegel), there's never a direct subject-to-subject recognition, but always mediation through the “Big Other” (social authority, language).
  • “Every relationship occurs through this mediation of the big other … That deforms the relation. … You’re never really grasping them as a subject.” (24:09, Todd McGowan)
• This cuts against other psychoanalytic traditions that focus on relationality.

6. Lacan’s Innovation: The Unconscious in the Social Field (28:12-30:26)

• McGowan highlights a core Lacanian innovation: the unconscious is found in the gap between the individual and society, not solely within one or the other.
  • Lacan “attacks Jung in this notion of the collective unconscious... [arguing instead it's] located between the individual and the society. … Freud never said that.” (28:22, Todd McGowan)
• McGowan is critical of late Lacan, who he finds veers into genuine solipsism with the loss of the symbolic social network.

7. Psychobiography, Biography, and Agency (32:08-34:10)

• While Lacan opposed psychobiographical criticism, McGowan sees value in considering how Lacan forged his own path distinct from historical or sociological determinism.
  • “I really am against this, how can we reduce the thinker to the expression of their context? I find that so uninteresting.” (32:55, Todd McGowan)

8. Lacan’s Kantian & Hegelian Roots; The Obje a (38:22-42:30)

• McGowan’s book frames Lacan through Kant (sensibility, understanding, and reason) and then Hegel in the development of psychoanalytic conceptual categories.
  • “You can line up Lacan’s three famous categories of imaginary, symbolic and real with Kant’s sensibility, understanding and reason.” (38:39, Todd McGowan)
• The concept of objet petit a is dissected:
  • It’s “the thing that slightly mars our access or bars our access to the object, and that’s what pushes us even more to desire it.” (41:33, Todd McGowan)
  • Memorable example: a seemingly "flawless" girl in school who is not desired, while others with evident flaws are.

9. Lacan, Capitalism, and Everyday Experience (43:30-44:58)

• McGowan extends Lacanian thinking to political economy, highlighting how capitalist dynamics mirror and manipulate the structure of desire.
  • “It’s so easy to be against capitalism when you think it’s this external system … but when you see that it’s actually part of the way that I desire, then it becomes a whole different ballgame…” (44:13, Todd McGowan)
  • Example: “planned obsolescence” in technology is engineering desire through manufactured lack.

10. Subjectivity, Biology, Culture, and the Unconscious (44:58-52:00)

• Helena brings in her specialization in maternal/perinatal psychology, noting that real human experience (e.g., motherhood) is always misaligned between biology and culture.
  • McGowan sees this as the field where the unconscious emerges: “I think that that idea is implicit in Freud, but … Lacan just doesn't think [the unconscious is biological], and I think he sees it exactly like you’re talking about: this way in which culture and biology don't mesh and out of that emerges the unconscious.” (47:58, Todd McGowan)
  • There’s comfort in understanding that not fitting (“failure”) into either pure ideology or biology is actually the norm.

11. Drives, Instincts, and the Death Drive (52:00-54:26)

• The difference between instinct and drive: drive is the name for what happens when an instinct is deformed by social/cultural mediation.
  • “It's just what happens when … there's this misalignment between biology and culture. … What happens, the change, is that it is no longer satisfied in the same way.” (52:22, Todd McGowan)
• Example: anorexia as the satisfaction of drive through "not eating," which is in opposition to biological instinct.
• McGowan is writing a new book on death drive, noting its dual nature (as the source of destruction and also creative achievement).

12. Missed Encounters and Intellectual Gossip (56:40-59:57)

• The episode ends on a lighter but insightful note about the many “missed encounters” among French theorists (e.g., Beauvoir and Lacan, Sartre’s lack of engagement with Lacan, Lacan’s and Freud’s never having met), and how these lacunae shape the intellectual field.
  • Anecdotal highlight: Paul Ricoeur attending Lacan’s seminars for two years then admitting he understood nothing, after which Lacan hung up the phone on him. (57:51-58:59)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Motivation

• “I know you’re supposed to say it’s a passion project … but this was not a passion project. … I just did it because she wanted me to.” (03:19, Todd McGowan)

On Simplification

• “People say to me, you’re a simplifier. … That’s a fair critique, but I think Lacan maybe needs a simplifier.” (11:43, Todd McGowan)

On Accessibility

• “I'm very much of an egalitarian and I just think thought should try to be … accessible to everybody. And if it doesn't, then what's the point?” (12:09, Todd McGowan)

On Desire

• “That identity of identity in difference is not the end of desire. That is the fuel of desire, in a sense, because that is contradiction.” (18:58, Todd McGowan)

On Subjectivity and the Other

• “You’re never really grasping them as a subject. … I don’t think there’s this subject, subject relation in Lacan or in Hegel.” (24:09, Todd McGowan)

On Lacan’s Context

• “How can we reduce the thinker to the expression of their context? I find that so uninteresting.” (32:55, Todd McGowan)

On Objet Petit a

• “It's the thing that bars our access or mars the object, but it actually makes it more desirable, like someone that has some slight problem with them.” (41:33, Todd McGowan)

On Capitalism & Desire

• “It’s so easy to be against capitalism when you think it’s this external system that you want to struggle against. But when you see that it’s actually part of the way that I desire, then it becomes a whole different ballgame.” (44:13, Todd McGowan)

On the Unconscious

• “Culture and biology don't mesh and out of that emerges the unconscious. … It’s such a valuable thing because … both of those [pure biological or pure cultural accounts] are wrong.” (48:15, Todd McGowan)

On Drives

• “The whole point about a drive or a desire is that it’s satisfied just by its movement, not by getting something.” (53:30, Todd McGowan)

On Missed Encounters

• “Paul Ricoeur came to Lacan seminar for two years … and Ricouer says, you know what? I've been going for two years. I don't really understand anything that you're saying. And Lacan hung up on him.” (58:27, Todd McGowan)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 01:56-04:57 – The unusual, personal story of the book’s origins
• 08:30-13:47 – Discussion of jargon, clarity, and democratizing theory
• 15:43-22:09 – Desire, lack, and Hegelian identity/difference
• 22:13-27:01 – The Big Other and impossibility of subject-to-subject relations
• 28:12-30:26 – Lacan’s take on subjectivity and the unconscious
• 38:22-42:30 – Kantian/Hegelian structure; objet petit a explained
• 43:30-44:58 – Capitalism as lived psychoanalysis: desire and consumption
• 44:58-52:00 – Biology/culture tension, maternal subjectivity, and the unconscious
• 52:00-54:26 – Theorizing drive vs. instinct, satisfaction, and the death drive

Further Projects & Closing

• McGowan’s next works include a short book entitled Self Sabotage and a longer, more theoretical book on the death drive; he is also interested in integrating psychoanalytic theory with existentialism.
• There's anticipation around a future book by his spouse, Hilary Neroni, on psychoanalysis and feminism.

Takeaway

This conversation is ideal for listeners curious about Lacan but frustrated by obscurantism, for scholars interested in the transmission of psychoanalytic thought after Freud, and for anyone invested in how theory meets everyday life—especially under capitalism. McGowan’s approach offers both clarity and argument, challenging listeners to engage with Lacan’s ideas as a living, contested legacy rather than settled doctrine.