There are two published items from the Rome Congress held at the Istituto di Psicologia della Università di Roma on 26th and 27th September1953.
- The Rome report (which is this one) &
- Rome Discourses – to introduce his report (Rome) : 26th September 1953 : Jacques Lacan Or Autres Écrits: 2001 : Jacques Lacan
NOTE : The intention is to transfer all posts from www.LacanianWorks.net to this website, www.LacanianWorks.org. Should any of the links given be still in the transfer queue, then go to https://web.archive.org and type in lacanianworks.net – go to the calendar and pick a date -or go to https://oldweb.today or contact Julia Evans.
Quoted by Jacques Lacan
Seminar IV : 19th December 1956 : see www.LacanianWorks.org /Seminar IV : The Object Relation & Freudian Structures 1956-1957 : begins 21st November 1956 : Jacques Lacan
Index of Post
- Availability in translation to English
- Availability in French
- Commentaries
- References to Sigmund Freud’s texts
- References
- Lacanian History
- References, citations etc
1. The Rome Report – Availability in translation to English
Report to the Rome Congress held at the Istituto di Psicologia della Università di Roma 26th and 27th September 1953.
– The Function of Language in Psychoanalysis (1953) :
translated by Anthony Wilden : Published in ‘‘The Language of the Self – The function of language in Psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan’ : 1968 : Anthony Wilden‘ Available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /lacan This translation omits Jacques Lacan’s preface.
Anthony Wilden’s Translator’s notes (Recommended) : Available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /lacan or authors a-z
Anthony Wilden’s Prefatory Note replaces Jacques Lacan’s Preface : Available [pxxiii to pxxviii] at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /lacan or authors a-z & See /Prefatory Note, the historical background of ‘The Function of Language in Psychoanalysis’ (1953) by Jacques Lacan : 1968 : Anthony Wilden
Anthony Wilden’s Bibliography : See www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /lacan or authors a-z
– The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis (1953) :
translated by Alan Sheridan : Published in Écrits, A Selection : London, Tavistock, 1977 : p114-145 : Available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan
– ‘The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis (1953)’
Translated by Bruce Fink
Published in Écrits, Jacques Lacan, The first complete edition in English : W.W. Norton & Co : 2002 : p197-268 Availability /Écrits : 1966 : Jacques Lacan
2. Availability in French
Three versions in French (1953, 1956, 1966) available from www.Freud2Lacan.com /Lacan (69. Écrits—Les trois versions du rapport de Rome)
– Document ronéotype d’avant congrès [1953]
– The following link has changed – a better link is www.aejcpp.free.fr : here www.aejcpp.free.fr/lacan/1953-09-26b.htm
École Lacanienne de Psychanalyse – pas tout Lacan : www.ecole-lacanienne.net/ Lacan/ Pas-Tout Lacan : Cette première version de ‘Fonction et champ de la parole et du langage en psychanalyse” parut dans ‘La psychanalyse’ No 1, 1956, Sur la parole et le langage, pages 81-166
– In addition, for the original of La Psychanalyse, in French, see www.Freud2Lacan.com /Lacan (12. La psychanalyse, vol. 1, 1953-1955)
La psychanalyse I includes, (notes from www.LacanianWorks.org )
/Introduction and Response to Jean Hyppolite’s presentation on Freud’s Verneinung : 10th February 1954 : Jacques Lacan
/Presentation on Sigmund Freud’s Verneinung : 10th February 1954 : Jean Hyppolite
/Translation of Heidegger’s essay on ‘Heraclitus Logos’ : Winter 1956
/The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis (Rome) : 26th September 1953 : Jacques Lacan
Sur le polyglottisme dans l’analyse de Daniel Lagache]
– In French included in the Écrits, published 1966 (Fonction et champ de la parole et du langage en psychanlyse : p237-322). Further details are given /Écrits : 1966 : Jacques Lacan
Related Texts – look first at www.LacanianWorks.org then https://web.archive.org /LacanianWorks.net
/Le Congrès des Psychanalystes des pays romans: quelques éléments d’histoire : 1991 : Alain de Mijolla. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (de Mijolla) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan September 1953 or Other Authors A-Z (de Mijolla)
/Écrits : 1966 : Jacques Lacan
3. Commentaries:
/‘The Language of the Self – The function of language in Psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan’ : 1968 : Anthony Wilden. See this site /5 Other Authors A-Z (Wilden) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Other Authors A-Z (Wilden)
/Translator’s note, Bibliography Note : 1977 : Alan Sheridan & Classified index of the major concepts & Commentary on the graphs : 1966 : Jacques-Alain Miller : from ‘Écrits: a selection-Jacques Lacan’. See this site /5 Jacques Lacan (September 1953) or www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /Lacan (September 1953)
/A Reader’s Guide to Écrits: 1982: John P. Muller and William J. Richardson : Commentary on Chapter 3: The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis …. p67 : Available at www.LacanianWorksExchange.net /authors a-z or lacan
Section headings with references
Note: W = Wilden S=Sheridan
Preface p31S
Introduction p3W : Introduction p34S
P5W : Ferenczi, “Confusion of Tongues between the Adult and the Child,” International Journal of Psycho-Analysis [Henceforth abbreviated IJP], XXX (1949), iv, 225-30.
I : The Empty Word and the Full Word p9W :
I Empty speech and full speech in the psychoanalytic realization of the subject p40S
p17-18W : : quote given in /An Encounter with a Statue : 26th October 2019 : Yaron Gilat [See www.LacanianWorks.org /5 Authors A-Z (Gilat) or December 2022 version at https://web.archive.org/web/20220718142613/https://lacanianworks.net/2019/10/an-encounter-with-a-statue-26th-october-2019-yaron-gilat/ ] and quoted in Jacques-Alain Miller : The Lying Truth : 11th February 2009 (Paris VII University), which was given as part of Choses de finesses en psychanalyse, Cours 2008-2009, L’orientation lacanienne, Frederic Baitinger & Robert Raber’s translation, published in The Lacanian Review 07, Spring 2019 : Available from Julia Evans
p18W : g : GW, XII, 71; Cinq psychanalyses, Presses Universitaires de France, p. 356, weak translation of the term. : Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis : 1909: Sigmund Freud : SE XI p3-59 : available from the internet
P18W : h : GW, XII, 72, n.1, last few lines The concept of Nacträglichkeit is to be found once more stressed in the note. Cinq psychanalyses, p356, n.1. [Standard Edition, XVII, 45, n.1.]
II : Symbol and Language p29W :
II Symbol and language as structure and limit of the psychoanalytic field : p56S
p31W : See /The Interpretation of Dreams: 1st November 1899 (published as 1900): Sigmund Freud : Standard Edition, IV, p151 & p157-158 : Availability at this site, www.LacanianWorks.org /3 Sigmund Freud (18991101)
p34W : p See: C. I. Oberndorf, “Unsatisfactory Results of Psychoanalytic Therapy,” Psycho-analytic Quarterly, XIX, p393-407
P48W : w : See: Claude Lévi-Strauss “Language and the Analysis of Social Laws,” American Anthropologist, Vol.53, No. 2 (April-June, l95l), pp. 155-63. [A French adaptation of the original article is published in Anthropologie Structurale (Paris:Plon, 1958), of which there is an English translation]
p48W : Kant : Critique of Pure Reason : Introduction to the transcendental aesthetic, Section IV: www.Freud2Lacan.com /Freud-Philosophy (The Complete Bilingual Editions of Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason: Part IV
P49W : On the Galilean hypothesis and Huyghens’ chronometer, see: Alexandre Koyré, “An experiment in Measurement,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 97 (April, 1953).
III : Interpretation and Temporality
p53W : III The resonances of interpretation and the time of the subject in psychoanalytic technique
: p77S
p58W : bb /The Theory of Symbolism : 1916 : Ernest Jones & /Écrits : 1966 : Jacques Lacan
See the article : “A la mémoire d’Ernest Jones : Sur sa théorie du symbolisme,” La Psychanalyse V (1960), pp. l-20; Ecrits, pp.697-717]. Availability given /Écrits : 1966 : Jacques Lacan. See also /The Theory of Symbolism : 1916 : Ernest Jones
P58W : cc : The reference is to the teaching of Abhinavagupta (tenth century). See : Dr. Kanti Chandra Pandey, “Indian Esthetics,” Chowkamtba Sansktrit Series, Studies, Vol. II, Benares, 1950
p58-59W : see note below
P59W : dd : /Ego psychology and interpretation in psychoanalytic therapies (Dream ‘fresh brains’) : December 1948 (New York) [1951] : Ernst Kris pp. 15-29, in particular the passage quoted on pp.27-28. [For further commentary on this article, see /Introduction and reply to Jean Hyppolite’s presentation of Freud’s ‘Verneinung’ & the commentary : 10th February 1954 : Jacques Lacan & Jean Hyppolite pp. 52-58 of the French text : see LW.org /4 Jacques Lacan (19540210)]
P64W : /The therapeutic effect of inexact interpretation : a contribution to the theory of suggestion : October 1931 : Edward Glover
P65W ; Robert Fliess : “Silence and Verbalization. A Supplement to the Theory of the ‘Analytic Rule,”‘ IJP, XXX, l.
4 References to Sigmund Freud
To be completed & see above
In The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis (Rome) : 26th September 1953 : Jacques Lacan : Also known as the Rome Report, see LW.org /September 1953. as quoted ‘with the accent placed on the expression “a lion only springs once”,[1]’ by Éric Zuliano at https://mondodispatch.com/en/2023/02/24/ecf-in-progress/, part of World Association of Psychoanalysis website, see p244 of Bruce Fink’s translation : The absence of the lion may thus have as many effects as his spring – which, were he present, would only come once, according to the proverb relished by Freud.
P58-59 of Anthony Wilden’s translation : There is therefore no doubt that the analyst can play on the power of the symbol by evoking it in a carefully calculated fashion in the Semantic resonances of his remarks.
This is surely the way for a return to the use of symbolic effects in a renewed technique of interpretation in analysis.
In this regard, we could take note of what the Hindu tradition teaches about dhuani [footnote cc], in the sense that this tradition brings out that it is proper to the Word to cause to be understood what it does not say.[Endnote 137] The tradition illustrates this by a tale whose ingenuousness, which appears to be the usual thing in these examples, shows itself humorous enough to induce us to penetrate the Truth which it conceals.
A young girl, it begins, is waiting for her lover on the bank of a stream when she sees a Brahmin coming along towards her. She runs to him and exclaims in the warmest and most amiable tones: “How lucky it is that you came by today! The dog which used to frighten you by its barking will not be along this riverbank again, for it has just been devoured by a lion which is often seen around here. . . .”
The absence of the lion can thus have as much of an effect as his spring would have were he present, for the lion only springs once, says the proverb appreciated by Freud. [Endnote 138] [Footnote cc : The reference is to the teaching of Abhinavagupta (tenth century). See: Dr Kanti Chandra Pandey, “Indian Esthetics,” Chowkamba Sanskrit Series, Studies, Vol. II, Benares, 1950] [Translator’s Note 137 p142 of Anthony Wilden : The early schools of poetic theory in the Hindu writers were (1) the school of rasa (sentiment), (2) the school of riti (style), (3) the school of dhvani, (4) the school of vakrokti (beautiful expression), as well as the school of citra (picture), of which only the third is still of any importance.
Dhvani means “sound, murmur, roar” even “thunder”; but most important here are the meanings: “tone,” “allusion.” Dhvani represents “that power of a word or sentence,” says Apte’s dictionary, “by virtue of which it conveys a sense different from its primary or secondary meaning, suggestive power.” The doctrine of dhvani, tone, long dominant in Hindu poetics and one of which Abhinavagupta was a leading exponent, is usually called the doctrine of “suggestion,” but no doubt it would be better described in this context as a theory of metaphor or metonymy. See below on lakshanalakshana (note I77).] [Translator’s Note 138 p143 of Anthony Wilden : In his “Analysis Terminable and Interminable” (1937), Standard Edition, XXIII, 2l9.]
5 References:
NOTE : If the following are not available at www.LacanianWorks.org then go to https://web.archive.org /lacanianWorks.net or go to https://web.archive.org/web/20220903135307/https://lacanianworks.net/2022/08/references-indexed-by-date-author/ for the links to texts as at December 2022.
/Ego psychology and interpretation in psychoanalytic therapies (Dream ‘fresh brains’) : December 1948 (New York) [1951] : Ernst Kris
p62-64 of Alan Sheridan’s translation : see /Language, Behaviour and Dynamic Psychiatry : 1944 : Jules Masserman
/Intellectual Inhibition & Disturbances in Eating (Dream ‘fresh brains’) : September 1933 [Published1938] : Melitta Schmideberg
/The therapeutic effect of inexact interpretation : a contribution to the theory of suggestion : October 1931 : Edward Glover
/The Theory of Symbolism : 1916 : Ernest Jones
Endnote:
[i] The Function of Language in Psychoanalysis (1953) : translated by Anthony Wilden : published in ‘The Language of the Self – The function of language in Psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan’ : 1968 : Baltimore MD & London, The John Hopkins University Press : p1-156 : See /The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis (Rome) : 26th September 1953 : Jacques Lacan This is a translation of Jacques Lacan’s ‘Rome Discourse’ without the preface.
The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis : translated by Alan Sheridan : in Écrits, A Selection : London, Tavistock, 1977 : p114-145 includes the Preface.
The ‘Rome Discourses’ as included in the Écrits (1966) is different to the one in Autres Écrits (2001) so is a mystery.
Update: Further to this mystery, École Lacanienne de Psychanalyse /pas tout Lacan, [ www.ecole-lacanienne.net/ Lacan/ Pas-Tout Lacan] includes them as two separate items :
1953-09-26 : Discours de Rome (24 p.)
1953-09-26 : Fonction et champ de la parole (62 p.)
Please see /Rome Discourses – to introduce his report (Rome) : 26th September 1953 : Jacques Lacan
6 A history of the Congresses — a Lacanian History
From /Le Congrès des Psychanalystes des pays romans: quelques éléments d’histoire : 1991 : Alain de Mijolla
– Rudolph Loewenstein was both Sacha Nacht’s and Jacques Lacan’s analyst. Nacht opposes Loewenstein in the 1938 session
– This eleventh conference, held in Brussels between May 14 and 17, 1948, was organized around Sacha Nacht’s paper “Les manifestations cliniques de l’agressivité et leur rôle dans le traitement psychanalytique” (Clinical manifestations of aggression and their role in psycho-analytic treatment; 1948) and Jacques Lacan’s paper “L’agressivité en psychanalyse” (Aggression in psychoanalysis; 1948). [Information /Aggressivity in Psychoanalysis : mid-May 1948 (Brussels) : Jacques Lacan ]
– This conference (1948) was distinguished most of all by the presence of Melanie Klein, who, however, failed to make converts among French psychoanalysts.
– on October 16, 1951, the conference changed its name to the Conference of Romance-Language Psychoanalysts, an extension attributed to Jacques Lacan.
– In 1953 a sixteenth special conference was held in Rome. The division of the Société psychanalytique de Paris (Paris Psychoanalytic Society) (SPP) in June divided the conference into two parts. In one, the members of the society listened to Emilio Servadio, Francis Pasche, René Spitz (who came from New York), Serge Lebovici, and René Diatkine. They then departed, and members of the new Société française de psychanalyse (French Society of Psychoanalysis) entered to listen to Jacques Lacan’s paper “Fonction et champ de la parole et du langage en psychanalyse” (The function and field of language in psychoanalysis). [Information /The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis (Rome) : 26th September 1953 : Jacques Lacan ]
– Jealously simmering in the Paris Psychoanalytic Society tore the two rival societies apart for more than a decade, and the following conferences of French-speaking psychoanalysts fit into the general strategy of the two societies’ struggle for influence.
Yet the conferences were also the scene of original theoretical elaborations marking the evolution and deepening of the psychoanalytic thinking of members of the Paris Psychoanalytic Society. This can be seen from a sample of papers presented at the conferences: Sacha Nacht and Serge Lebovici, “Indications et contre-indications de la psychanalyse chez l’adulte” (Indications and contraindications for psychoanalysis for adults; 1954) [Available from www.LacanianWorks.org or Julia Evans]; René Diatkine and Jean Favreau, “Le caractère névrotique” (The neurotic character; 1956) [Available from www.LacanianWorks.org or Julia Evans]
7 References, Citations etc
Cited by Jacques Lacan
In the transfer of texts from www.LacanianWorks.net to www.LacanianWorks.org some texts may not have reappeared as yet. Please go to https://web.archive.org and type in lacanianworks.net – go to the calendar and pick a date – or go to https://oldweb.today or contact Julia Evans for access to missing texts.
-Seminar IV 19th December 1956 : Seminar IV Relation from Object [Relation d’objet] & Freudian Structures (1956-1957) : from 21st November 1956 : Jacques Lacan
– Conference Report, SIR : Inaugural meeting of SFP, Paris : 8th July 1953 : Jacques Lacan
Quoted by Jacques Lacan
-The Interpretation of Dreams : 6th November 1899 (published as 1900) : Sigmund Freud
Commentaries
The Language of the Self – The function of language in psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan : 1968 : Anthony Wilden
Translator’s note & Bibliography Note from ‘Écrits – a selection’ : 1977 : Alan Sheridan
A Reader’s Guide to Écrits : 1982 : John P. Muller and William J. Richardson
Notes & References for Jacques Lacan’s Seminar IV : 21st November 1956
: 28th February 2017 : Julia Evans
Lacanian History
Le Congrès des Psychanalystes des pays romans: quelques éléments d’histoire : 1991 : Alain de Mijolla
Dossier on the Institutional Debate, An Introduction : 1990 : Joan Copjec
Prefatory Note, the historical background of ‘The Function of Language in Psychoanalysis’ (1953) by Jacques Lacan : 1968 : Anthony Wilden
References
Ego psychology and interpretation in psychoanalytic therapies (Dream ‘fresh brains’) : December 1948 (New York) [1951] : Ernst Kris
Intellectual Inhibition & Disturbances in Eating (Dream ‘fresh brains’) : September 1933 [Published1938] : Melitta Schmideberg
p64 of Anthony Wilden’s translation : The therapeutic effect of inexact interpretation : a contribution to the theory of suggestion : October 1931 : Edward Glover
p62-63 of Alan Sheridan’s translation : Language, Behaviour and Dynamic Psychiatry : 1944 : Jules Masserman
The Theory of Symbolism : 1916 : Ernest Jones
Citations
The logic that haste determines : 17th July 2019 (London) : Henrik Lynggaard
p34 of Alan Sheridan’s translated quoted at Subjective Urgency and Object Little a : 15th February 2019 : Frank Rollier
p85 of Anthony Wilden’s translation : Notes for a discussion on the clinic of trauma : 9th May 2018 (London) : Julia Evans
The analyst’s position (Part II) : 5th November 2017 (London) : on 5th November 2017 : Julia Evans
The analyst’s position (Part I) : Thursday 26th October 2017 : 26th October2017 : by Julia Evans
Notes & References for Jacques Lacan’s Seminar IV 21st November 1956 (p4) : 28th February 2017 : Julia Evans
The Unconscious and the Body Event : the full interview : July 2015 : Éric Laurent
p44-45 of Alan Sheridan’s translation : The Logic and Surprises of Supervision at the Time of the Parlêtre : 7th March 2015 (Italy) : Éric Laurent
p30 of Alan Sheridan : Habeus Corpus : 28th April 2016 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) : Jacques-Alain Miller
Reason for ‘Interrogating Freud & Lacan’ & how you may join in : 14th July 2014 : Julia Evans
Moments of Crisis : 10th May 2014 (Ghent) : Gil Caroz
Jacques Lacan comments Dream ‘fresh brains’ in Seminars I, III, VI & X and Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis – 26th & 27th September 1953 & Direction of the Treatment : 10th to 13th July 1958 : 30th January 2014 : Julia Evans
The Other without Other : Sunday 19th May 2013: in Athens : Jacques-Alain Miller
Some relations between Jacques Lacan and Søren Kierkegaard – Seminars II, VII, X, XVII, XX & two of the Écrits : 16th December 2011 : Julia Evans
Lacan with D. W. Winnicott : 25th June 2011 (Dublin) : Joanne Conway
The Pass … or to Finesse Against the Subject Supposed to Know : 14th May 2009 (Paris) : Éric Laurent
Ordinary Interpretation : 12th July 2008 (Paris) : Éric Laurent
p16 of Anthony Wilden’s translation : Interpreting Psychosis from Day to Day : October 2005 : Éric Laurent
p94 of Alan Sheridan’s translation : Relieve Anxiety? : December 2003 : Éric Laurent
p105 of Alan Sheridan’s translation quoted in On the origin of the Other and the post-traumatic object : 6th November 2004 (Lyon) : Éric Laurent
p105 of Alan Sheridan’s translation : Trauma in Reverse : 27th April 2002 (New York) : Éric Laurent
The case, from unease to the lie : 2002 : Éric Laurent
p77 of Anthony Wilden’s translation : The Seminar of Barcelona on ‘Die Wege der Symptombildung’ : probably Autumn 1996 : Jacques-Alain Miller
KNOT, The Theory of the Knot Outlined by Jacques Lacan : July 1996 : Jean Michel Vappereau
Moment of Truth – the Newman : November 26, 1995 : Philip Boxer
Interpretation and Truth : 1st July 1994 : Éric Laurent
Three Enigmas: Meaning, Signification, Jouissance : February 1993 : Éric Laurent
Clinic and Topology : 1993 : Pierre Skriabine
Lacan’s Seminar on “The Purloined Letter” : Overview : 1988 : John P. Muller and William J. Richardson or here http://www.lacanianworks.net/?p=12101
Melancholia, the Pain of Existence and Moral Cowardice : October1988 : Éric Laurent
Lacan’s Seminar on “The Purloined Letter” : Notes to the Text : 1988 : John P. Muller and William J. Richardson
The Ordinary Topology of Jacques Lacan : 1986 : Jeanne Lafont
A Reader’s Guide to Écrits: 1982: John P. Muller and William J. Richardson
p64 of Anthony Wilden’s translation in The Body in the Teaching of Jacques Lacan : May 1984 : Colette Soler
Translator’s note, Bibliography Note : 1977 : Alan Sheridan & Classified index of the major concepts, Commentary on the graphs : 1966 : Jacques-Alain Miller
The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man – the Structuralist Controversy : 18-21 October 1966 (Baltimore, USA) : Richard Macksey & Eugenio Donato (Eds)
The Language of the Self – The function of language in Psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan’ : 1968 : Anthony Wilden
Lacan and the Discourse of the Other : 1968 : Anthony Wilden
Fetishism: The Symbolic, the Imaginary and the Real : 1956 : Lacan Jacques and Wladimir Granoff
Introduction and reply to Jean Hyppolite’s presentation of Freud’s ‘Verneinung’ & the commentary : 10th February 1954 : Jacques Lacan & Jean Hyppolite