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unisonlibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Zizek makes a general rule of railing against convention (annoyed with writers blurb on dust jackets he tells us he would like to, for effect put the following on his: “In his free time, Žižek likes to surf the internet for child pornography and teach his small son how to pull the legs off spiders”). He is funny, erudite and provocative in his quest for new arguments within the boundaries of psychoanalysis and European philosophy. He is also at times bordering on unreadable to the layperson when he goes round the houses three or four times to make a simple point.
Usually however, his arguments are fairly concisely rounded up at the end of each chapter. He makes a point of being fluid with his postmodern style, being able to switch between philosophies and take in counter-argument that develops his own. He is far from the rigid intellectuals that pervade the world of academia. This book broadly challenges the assumption that the age of ideology is behind us, while taking us on a journey through the ideological nature of history to show us the necessity of events that took place within the origins of the modern world.
Revolution, and particularly violent revolution is a theme throughout. Zizek endeavours to present the unpalatable and redevelop our tastebuds to match dish on offer. There is clearly a desire to outrage with subtitles such as “how Stalin saved humanity”, but the text is far from an apology for communist atrocity once the reader gets past the slightly comic attempt at headline shock. Other things “defended”, or to put it perhaps a better way; seen in context are the French revolution and subsequent terror as well as Heidegger’s descent in to and justification for, Nazism.
There is too large a section devoted to sparring with other current thinkers which would be better consigned to academic journals, though the reader can hardly blame an author for defending themself from attack. Such behaviour however does show what is wrong with the left, in that we’re all fighting among each other when the real enemy, globalised capital, is running amok and laughing at us.
There are some terrific modern cultural references used by Zizek in his quest to help us understand just what he is getting at (his reading of films for example is mind-blowing and hilarious) and overall this is an arduous but relevant book that is worth persevering with. Once the author’s style has been gotten used to, there are some golden treasures for the reader to discover.
Usually however, his arguments are fairly concisely rounded up at the end of each chapter. He makes a point of being fluid with his postmodern style, being able to switch between philosophies and take in counter-argument that develops his own. He is far from the rigid intellectuals that pervade the world of academia. This book broadly challenges the assumption that the age of ideology is behind us, while taking us on a journey through the ideological nature of history to show us the necessity of events that took place within the origins of the modern world.
Revolution, and particularly violent revolution is a theme throughout. Zizek endeavours to present the unpalatable and redevelop our tastebuds to match dish on offer. There is clearly a desire to outrage with subtitles such as “how Stalin saved humanity”, but the text is far from an apology for communist atrocity once the reader gets past the slightly comic attempt at headline shock. Other things “defended”, or to put it perhaps a better way; seen in context are the French revolution and subsequent terror as well as Heidegger’s descent in to and justification for, Nazism.
There is too large a section devoted to sparring with other current thinkers which would be better consigned to academic journals, though the reader can hardly blame an author for defending themself from attack. Such behaviour however does show what is wrong with the left, in that we’re all fighting among each other when the real enemy, globalised capital, is running amok and laughing at us.
There are some terrific modern cultural references used by Zizek in his quest to help us understand just what he is getting at (his reading of films for example is mind-blowing and hilarious) and overall this is an arduous but relevant book that is worth persevering with. Once the author’s style has been gotten used to, there are some golden treasures for the reader to discover.
eivind's review against another edition
3.0
Profound. And messy. I'm confused. I'd like to give some parts of it 5 stars...
piccoline's review against another edition
4.0
Zizek challenges, as usual. In this tome he engages the question of what, then, we ought to do and/or be in this world of ours. The tone ranges from excruciatingly technical to breezy, irreverent, and enamored with popular culture. A few stretches are a slog, and his concluding pages seem strangely rushed or perfunctory, but there are so many challenging ideas here about the way we are and the current system of the world that these are minor quibbles. There's so much to enjoy along the way.
One needn't be a Marxist to be sympathetic to the idea that we are in need of an Event.
One needn't be a Marxist to be sympathetic to the idea that we are in need of an Event.
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