The writings of Jacques Lacan have received the very highest praise - and also been dismissed as impenetrably obscure. What is not in doubt is his unique determination to re-assess the whole Freudian legacy and to ask the most searching questions. If psychoanalysis is a science, he suggests, it may be surprisingly similar to linguistics; we need to clarify the meanings of the four fundamental concepts, drive, repetition, the unconscious and transference. In doing so, this book also makes clear his position on topics as diverse as religion and alienation, sexuality and death.