Although French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan's theories have had a considerable impact on poststructuralist literary studies in the English-speaking world, they are often misinterpreted due to
gaps in translated materials and undue emphasis on some aspects. To rectify this situation, Azari, a Sydney-based Afghan writer (previously at Macquarie U., Australia) presents a
multi-disciplinary approach to the Lacanian concepts of jouissance (bliss associated with the obtainment of any desired object or condition) and sinthome ('symptom,' defined in relation to
writing as the way in which each subject is organized to achieve its desire). For example, Lacan (in Le Sinthome) applied these concepts in analyzing Shakespeare's Hamlet as a crisis of desire,
and James Joyce's enjoyment of the unconscious in Finnegan's Wake. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
