Translations of the German used by Jacques Lacan in Seminar VII : 18th & 25th November + 2nd, 9th & 16th December 1959 + 10th January 1960
by Jo Rostron on April 30, 2013
The version used is ‘Seminar VII: The Ethics of psychoanalysis: 1959-1960’ : translated by Dennis Porter : Routledge, UK, 1992 : First session: 18th November 1959 (Dates are given at the end of each chapter.)
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18 Nov 1959
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-Als ob
as if
-Glück
luck, or happiness
-Gelück
(luck old German)
-Glücklich
lucky in games, or chance
-Traumdeutung
dream interpretation. (deutlich machen, to make clear)
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25 Nov 1959
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-Wunsch
desire, a particular wish
-Stimmungen
moods
-Stimmung
mood
-das Unangenehmste
unpleasantness, unacceptability. angenehm = pleasant. nehmen = to take, to accept
-Entwurf
design (ich entwerfe ein Haus = I design a building) werfen = throw (throw together?)
-Formulierungen über die zwei Prinzipen des psychischen Geschehens
formulation on the two principles of the psychic event/happening
-Bahnung
routing, a preplanned destination (ie that a train or tram might take). Strachey in Freud’s Project translates Bahnungen as the facilitations of sexual energy, or ‘Qn’ existing between the psy neurones that represent memory. Memory is according to Freud generally without the qualities of perception.
-Wunschgedanke
thought process concerned with desire
-Erwartung
expectation
-feindliche Objekt
hostile object
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2 Dec 1959
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-Kultur
similar meanings to English i.e. as in planting a tree, cultural origins or activities – the ‘soil’ you grow in
-Verneinung
denial, negation, the process of denial. Ich verneine = I deny (e.g. as used in court)
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9 Dec 1959
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-das Ding
Anything without a name.
-die Sache
a thing that is specific or particular: an object. Also court case or disputed thing. e.g. the matter in question, the affair
-Volksversammlung
an assembly or gathering of people
-Unbewusste
Made unconscious, from wissen to know. ?The repressed. (Unbekannte = the unknown, from kennen, to know)
-Sachvorstellungen
(re)presentation of an object
an imagining of an object
ich stelle mir vor = I imagine)
-Wortvorstellungen
introduction of, presentation of the word
vorstellen = to introduce or to present
-die Verdrängung
repression
drängen = to push away with force
-Dingvorstellung
presentation of an unnamed or undifferentiated, object or thing
-Not des Lebens
this is something drastic – an emergency or an agony of profound need encountered in life. (Todes Not is death agony.)
-Reich
realm or domain
-Bewegung
movement (e.g. political, wave of human energy)
-Abfuhr
removal
-Vorstellung
presentation – or imagination
-Wortvorstellung
presentation of the word (then applied to the perception) Naming?
-die Einführung des Ichs
the introduction of, the entry of, to become aware of, the ego
-Gleichbesetzung
equal engagement, occupation
-eine Gruppe von Neuronen, die konstant besetzt ist, also dem durch die sekundäre Funktion erforderten Vorratsträger entspricht
a group of neurons, that is constantly engaged (in a state of excitation), thus corresponds through the secondary function as the requisite transformer for the store (of Freud’s ‘Qn’)
(etwas auf Vorrat haben – to have something in reserve. erfordern to require, demand, call for.)
-Vorrat
stock, supply, provision, reserve (Freud’s store of ‘Qn’ maintained to meet the demand for action in the external world)
-Besetzung
occupation, engagement
-Gleichbesetzung
equal occupation, engagement
-Wahrnehmungsbewußtsein
recognition of, awareness of a perception
-Qualitätszeichen
traces/signs/marks of qualities. Qualities are conscious perceptions that originate in Freud’s hypothesized omega system of neurons. According to his ‘Project’ in the CNS quantities of energy are transformed into qualities of perception.
-Bewußtsein
awareness, consciousness
-Niederschriften
recording
-Wahrnehmung
perception
-Prägung
inscription, embossing, engraving
-Übung
practice
-Abfuhr
removal
-Vorratskammer
reserve or supply room, larder
-Vorratsträger
transformer of the supply (of sexual energy or ‘Qn’)
-Nebenmensch
the human being right next to you
(it is more impersonal and formal than ‘neighbour’)
-Lust
lust, longing, pleasure.
Ich habe Lust zum tanzen – I’d like to dance
-Unlust
lack of desire or lack of enjoyment/pleasure in anything
-spezifische Aktion
this refers to a ‘specific action’ in the external world that is required to meet an exigency of life, and thus draws on Qn that has been stored for this purpose (Freud’s ‘Secondary Function’). This is in contrast to the uninhibited and spontaneous divestment of Qn to muscular tissue in reflex action (Freud’s ‘Primary Function’).
-Befriedigungserlebnis
experience of satisfaction
-Mittel zur Reproduktion von Lust
a means for the reproduction of pleasure
-das ist er, der hysterische Anfall wenigstens in der Wurzel
That at least is the source (the root) of the hysterical attack
-sonst motiviert er sich vor dem Vorbewussten mit allerlet Gründen
otherwise it is motivated by the Pre-conscious for all kinds of reasons
-Versagen des Glaubens
breakdown of faith
-Neurosenwahl
choice of neurosis. Freud has hypothesized that facilitations for the passage of ‘Qn’ through each neuron differ and are independent. There may be one or several paths of connection between neurons and these determine choice.
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16 Dec 1959
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-Erscheinung
appearance
-Wahrnehmung
perception, recognition of the truth
-Vorstellungsrepräsentanz
representative of the imagination
of the (re)presentation
-Vorbewußtsein
Pre-conscious
-Jedermanding
anyone’s thing
-Großding
great thing
-Die Sache ist das Wort des Dinges
the object is the word of the Thing
(der Mensch wird zu Sache = man is reduced to or becomes an object)
-Wahrnehmungszeichen
perceptual traces, signs, tokens
-Lautwerden
to become noisy
-Verurteilung
condemnation, done away with
Urteil = judgement
-Verwerfung
dismissal (of someone’s opinion for example)
to throw away (verwerfen)
-Gleichzeitigkeit
simultaneously
-Über-Ich
superego
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10 Jan 1960
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-Sicherung
certainty
-Schwarmereien
Fanaticism, infatuation, zealotry
-Fixierarbeit
work of fixation, definition, specification, recording
-Haftbarkeit
responsibility or liability
-Trieb
Drive, drift, inclination
-gesammelte
collected
-Genitalprimat
Genital primacy
-Netz der Triebe
Network, web, pathways of the drives
-Regungen
Emotions, movements, dictates, stirrings
-Verschiebbarkeit
Shiftability, displaceability, mobility
-Flussigkeit
Fluidity, liquidity
-Reaktionsbildung
Formation
-Befriedigung
Gratification, satisfaction