Short Course Description
Love has been one of the most ubiquitous themes of literary works since antiquity. Yet what exactly are we talking about when we talk about love? How can the theories of love proffered by philophy and psychoanalysis enrich our readings of literary texts? his seminar will offer a journey through theories of love from antiquity to the present, starting from Plato?s Symposium and its readings by Ficino, to more contemporary views such as Roland Barthes?s in A Lover?s Discourse and Alain Badiou?s Eloge a l?amour, via Freud?s contributions to the theory of love. The Seminar will culminate in Lacan?s radical rereading of the Symposium in Seminar 8, and in the even most radical Seminar 20 where love becomes a response to what inevitably does not work in the sexual relation.
Full Syllabus