Lacan, Jacques

The eldest child of French vinegar merchant Alfred Lacan and his wife Emilie (née, Baudry), Jacques Marie Emile Lacan (1901–1981) was born in Paris. According to Elizabeth Roudinesco’s detailed biography, Lacan was brought up in an atmosphere that combined ‘stifling religiosity’ with constant ‘domestic squabbles.’ His earliest scholarly influence was Spinoza, but by the end of 1918, his main influence came in the form of Jean Baruzi, who taught philosophy at the school Lacan attended, the distinguished Jesuit College Stanislas. It seems that under these influences, Lacan came across a scholarly form of Catholicism contrasting with the version he encountered in his family. In his early 20s, he was a regular at the public readings at Shakespeare & Co., where he heard such writers as ...