"Murray talks about Lacan in a way that nobody has before: he explains in crystal clear, easily understandable language not just what the notoriously opaque Lacan's ideas were "about," but also the various shaping forces—personal, historical, cultural, ideological, artistic—that were "about" Lacan and contributed to his thought and practice. This is a book we have needed for a long, long time."

"Murray has found ways to think both with and about Jacques Lacan. With extraordinary intellectual generosity (and some humour), he forges a form of psychoanalytic sensibility that is vitalized, not exhausted, by the dazzle and difficulty of its subject. This book is unique in its approach to introducing Lacan: slowly, patiently and variously, it stays with us in the mayhem of Lacan’s innovations in psychoanalysis—and supports us in the ongoing work of making a sort of sense from it."

"Murray has written a fine introduction to psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901–81) and his challenges (intellectual and personal) to modern notions of how to define and approach such things as human agency, desire, perception, and creativity.  Among the many, and continually proliferating, introductions to Lacan's often abstruse and dense work, this book stands out for its clarity and range: Murray combines the historical, the biographical, and the conceptual with an adroitness not often exemplified in introductory treatments.  Particularly compelling is Murray's attention to the early period of Lacan's personal and intellectual life, as revealed in discussion of the formative relationship to Lacan's work of surrealism and the thought of philosopher Georges Bataille.  Useful for anyone interested in 20th-century thought, French intellectual history, or psychoanalysis, this book deserves a space on the shelves of even those who have already amassed a significant number of introductions to Lacanian thought. Highly recommended."