Jacques Lacan's commentaries on Freud had revolutionary implications not only for the analytic movement but also for contemporary philosophy and literary criticism. Lacan held that if the unconscious, as Freud described it, exists, it functions linguistically, rather than symbolically or instinctually. He refers to the unconscious as a language: -the discourse of the Other.- In The Language of the Self Lacan offers a significant and fertile return to the heart of the Freudian texts.

Originally published in paperback under the title Speech and Language in...