In Defense of Lost Causes
In this combative major new work, philosophical sharpshooter Slavoj Zizek looks for the kernel of truth in the totalitarian politics of the past.
Examining Heidegger's seduction by fascism and Foucault's flirtation with the Iranian Revolution, he suggests that these were the 'right steps in the wrong direction.' On the revolutionary terror of Robespierre, Mao and the bolsheviks, Zizek argues that while these struggles ended in historic failure and horror, there was a valuable core of idealism lost beneath the bloodshed.
A redemptive vision has been obscured by the soft, decentralized politics of the liberal-democratic consensus. Faced with the coming ecological crisis, Zizekk argues the case for revolutionary terror and the dictatorship of the proletariat. A return to past ideals is needed despite the risks. In the words of Samuel Beckett: 'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.'
Paperback, 530 pages
ISBN: 9781844674299
October 2009
$22.95 / £12.99
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Reviews
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The most dangerous philosopher in the West.
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Addictively eclectic … He contrives to leave the reader, as usual, both exhilarated and disoriented, standing in the middle of a scorched plain strewn with the rubble of smashed idols.
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A wealth of political and philosophical insight.
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A monument to imaginative, risk-taking and rigorous scholarship.
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Exhilarating, inspiring, thought-provoking.
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Outrageous, provocative and entertaining.
Blog
Slavoj Žižek on the Occupy movement for Al Jazeera— videos and transcript
Slavoj Žižek has been interviewed by Al Jazeera to give his unique perspective on the tumultuous changes happening in the world financial and political systems. In an extensive conversation with Tom Ackerman, Žižek discussed the Arab Spring, London Riots and the Occupy movement, as well as the various financial and political crises across the world from Europe to India. Throughout the discussion, Žižek explored the themes of violence across the political spectrum and his irresistible desire to provoke friends and enemies alike.
Visit Al Jazeera to view the interview in situ.
Žižek also visited St Marks bookshop to discuss his views on the Occupy Wall Street protest.
Discussions
Begin a discussion about this book-
Did Zizek read Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472)?
When Zizek says that there remain only two teories that still show and practice the engaged notion of the real: marxism and psicoanalisis, I started to wonder if he had read Alberti. I consider that this humanist from the Renaissance developped a theory that practices and engages a notion of the real in many of his books including De re aedificatoria. So if Zizek read him, I would like to know why he doesn´t consider his theory as so.
Other books by Slavoj Žižek
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Less Than Nothing
by Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek's masterwork on the Hegelian legacy
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Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism?
Undermining the liberal-democratic consensus that enables the designation of totalitarianism.by Slavoj Žižek
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Revolution at the Gates
by V. I. Lenin
How to reinvent Lenin in the era of “cultural capitalism.”
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Living in the End Times
by Slavoj Žižek
Žižek analyzes the end of the world at the hands of the “four riders of the apocalypse.”
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Contingency, Hegemony, Universality
by Slavoj Žižek, Ernesto Laclau, et al.
The Hegelian legacy, Left strategy, and post-structuralism versus Lacanian psychoanalysis.
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The Idea of Communism
Edited by Slavoj Žižek, and Costas Douzinas
An all-star cast of radical intellectuals discuss the continued importance of communism.
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lacan (But Were Afraid to Ask Hitchcock)
Edited by Slavoj Žižek
Hitchcock gets onto the analyst’s couch in this extraordinary volume of case studies.
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First As Tragedy, Then As Farce
by Slavoj Žižek
From the tragedy of 9/11 to the farce of the financial meltdown.
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The Fragile Absolute
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Argues that the subversive core of the Christian legacy forms the foundation of a politics of universal emancipation.
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The Ticklish Subject
by Slavoj Žižek
A specter is haunting Western thought, the specter of the Cartesian subject.
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The Sublime Object of Ideology
by Slavoj Žižek
Exploring the ideologies fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society.
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The Plague of Fantasies
by Slavoj Žižek
The relations between fantasy and ideology, and the deluge of digital phantasms surrounding us.
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For They Know Not What They Do
by Slavoj Žižek
The eminent philosopher explodes the roles of pleasure and desire in contemporary politics and culture.
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The Indivisible Remainder
by Slavoj Žižek
Confronts Schelling with Hegel, and illuminates popular culture and modern subjectivity.
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Virtue and Terror
by Maximilien Robespierre, and Slavoj Žižek
Robespierre’s justification of the Terror in the French Revolution.
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Lacan
Edited by Slavoj Žižek
A dazzling re-evaluation of Jacques Lacan, uncovering his hidden inspirations.
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The Metastases of Enjoyment
by Slavoj Žižek
The status of women and the role of violence in contemporary culture and politics.
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Iraq
by Slavoj Žižek
Žižek analyzes the bizarre logic used to justify the attack on Iraq.
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Welcome to the Desert of the Real
by Slavoj Žižek
Probing beneath the level of TV punditry, Žižek offers a highly original and readable account that serves as a fascinating and insightful comprehension of the events of September 11.
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Mapping Ideology
Edited by Slavoj Žižek
Indispensable contemporary writing on the subject of ideology.