Bookman has a volume by Bruce Fink on Lacan, An Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis [1997, Harvard]. Of all the “Frenchies” Lacan is the most difficult, and I’ve been reading him on my own for years with limited success. Zizek helps, as do Serge LeClaire, a few others. However, Fink is an American, teaches in America, and is a practicioner. As such he is sensitive to the American preference for getting down to earth, getting down to cases. I am also American and tend to be pragmatic (although I have a high tolerance for enthusiasts and even dogmatists; not sure why; maybe because they are a bit daring…) so I found this book quite quite helpful and it is written in a very accesible style. In particular, he translates the important term jouissance as “to get off on” and that right away seemed very clear to me. (There is a difference between liking something, enjoying something, and “getting off on” something–the latter is more intense and more fragile. Someone who “gets off on” something is not happy; he or she is vehement.) Also, he makes the statement that psychoanalysis “places its faith in language”: that has finally been clarified for me: it’s faith, it’s a gamble. In addition, he offers advice for practicioners which also helps me see just what Lacan was trying to do (anyway, see it a little better).
So, its a book that can help someone begin decide what ultimately to think of Lacan. Fink by the way has also re-translated Lacan’s Ecrits.