Lacan’s Marx: From the Materialism of Signifier to Libidinal Political Economy

Lacan’s Marx presents the most comprehensive study to date of Jacques Lacan’s original engagement with Karl Marx. Lacan’s Marx presents the most comprehensive study to date of Jacques Lacan’s original engagement with Karl Marx. Pavón-Cuéllar clarifies what Marx’s deeds, words and ideas become when they are first interpreted by Lacan and then derivatively reinterpreted by other authors under the influence of Lacan. These interpretations and reinterpretations establish various connections between Marx and Lacan and open a wide field of possibilities. The result is the intuition of a ‘Lacanian Marxism’ in which Marx’s concepts acquire new and unsuspected meanings thanks to their interpretation by Lacan and everything that results from it. Drawing on previously unexplored materials, the book reconstructs the conceptual mediations that shaped the encounter between Marx and Lacan, highlighting the roles played by various authors important to Lacan, including philosophers, Marxist and Freudo-Marxist theorists, surrealist poets and structuralist thinkers. Lacan’s Marx will be indispensable for anyone interested in the relationship between Marx and Lacan. It will be of great interest to academics and students of Marxism, French structuralism and post-structuralism. It will also be a valuable resource for students, researchers, teachers and scholars in psychoanalysis, psychology, political theory, and psychosocial studies.