Žižek Studies: The Greatest Hits (So Far)

Description

Žižek Studies: The Greatest Hits (So Far) assembles and presents the best work published in the field of Zizek Studies over the last ten years, providing teachers, students, and researchers with a carefully curated volume of leading-edge scholarship addressing the unique and sometimes eclectic work of Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek. The chapters included in this collection have been rigorously tested in and culled from the (virtual) pages of the International Journal of Žižek Studies, a leading open access journal that began publication in 2007. The book is organized into three sections or subject areas where Zizek and his seemingly indefatigable efforts have had significant impact: philosophy, politics, and popular culture. As a "greatest hits," the book offers the long-time fan and uninitiated newcomer alike a comprehensive overview of the wide range of opportunity in the field of Žižek studies and a remarkable collection of truly interdisciplinary "hits" from a diverse set of innovative and accomplished writers. Žižek Studies: The Greatest Hits (So Far) Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Editors’ Introduction Why Žižek? And Why Online? In the Beginning … A Man with Qualities—Žižek the Public Intellectual Screening Thought The Greatest Hits—An Axe for the Frozen Sea Within Us References Part I: Philosophy References 1 Žižek and the Real Hegel Metaphysical Games Critical Revisions and Perverse Remakes Will the Real Hegel Please Stand Up? Truth or Consequences Notes References 2 Žižek’s Kant, or The Crack in the Universal (Politicizing the Transcendental Turn) Introduction: Žižek as Hegelian or ‘NeoKantian’? Yes, Please! Žižek and the Subject of Kantian Apperception Žižek on the Sublime, and the Antinomies of Pure Reason Failure = Success: Žižek on the Transcendental Imagination Conclusion: From the Politicization of Ontology to Žižek’s Ontology of Politics … And a Final Remark on the (Political) Subject Notes References 3 Žižek’s Brand of Philosophical Excess and the Treason of the Intellectuals: Wagers of Sin, Ugly Ducklings, and Mythical Swans Introduction—Žižek’s Brand of Excess and Le Traison des Clercs Žižek’s Wagers of Sin … and the Puritanical Response Fifty Shades of Gray Transference—The Violent Visions of Žižek’s Critics The Real Excess of the Joker’s Success and the Search for Missing Rabbits There Once Was an Ugly Ideological Duckling—A Poster Boy for the Treason of the Intellectuals Conclusion—The Curious Case of the Academics Who Failed to Bark in the Night References 4 The Hegelian “Night of the World”: Žižek on Subjectivity, Negativity, and Universality The Hegelian Ticklish Subject Žižek’s Hegelian Criticism of Kantian Imagination “The Night of the World” “Tarrying with the Negative” Imagination or Understanding? II: Abstract Negativity and Concrete Universality From Abstract to Concrete Universality The ‘Night of the World’ and Revolutionary Violence Global Capitalism: ‘End of History’ or ‘History of Violence’? Notes References Part II: Politics Reference 5 A Hermeneutic of Hope: Problematizing Žižek’s Apocalypticism Eschatology and Alterity Hope in the Face of Cultural Devastation Apocalyptic Žižek Fully Accomplished Loss Signs from the Future The End of Hope? Notes References 6 Barack Obama, the New Spirit of Capitalism and the Populist Resistance Populism and the Political The Bush Malaise and America’s Moral Crisis Reclaiming American Exceptionalism The New Spirit of Capitalism Obama and the New Commodity Logic The Populists Shrugged Conclusion Notes References 7 Capitalism’s Cynical Leviathan: Cynicism, Totalitarianism, and Hobbes in Modern Capitalist Regulation Totalitarianism, Cynicism, and Capitalism Management Laclau, Hegemony, and the Impossibility of Total Inscription Žižek, Cynicism, and Totalitarianism Hobbes and a Cynical Totalitarianism Hobbes, the Need for Totalitarianism and Capitalism Regulation Saving the Individual to Save the State and Organization Consent, Internalization and Dis-identification in Hobbes and Capitalism Cynicism, Responsibility, and Dis-identification Order, Dis-identification, and the Construction of the Cynical Totalitarian Subject Conclusion: Reinforcing Totalitarianism Through Cynicism References 8 The Joy of Inequality: The Libidinal Economy of Compassionate Consumerism Introduction: Psychosexual/Development The Oral Stage: Table for Two International The Anal Stage: Toilet Twinning The Phallic Stage: Sir Richard’s Condoms Conclusion: The Desire of the Other Acknowledgements Notes References 9 Žižek’s New Universe of Discourse: Politics and the Discourse of the Capitalist Towards a Formal Difference in Discourse Between Žižek and Lacan The Discourse of the Capitalist: Production and Consumption The Dynamics of Production The Dynamics of Consumption Consequences and Symptoms of the Decline of the Master and the Rise of the Universe of Capitalism Waste and the Discourse of Bio-Power The Decline of Symbolic Efficiency and the Discourse of Immaterial Labor The Discourse of Critical Theory Conclusion Appendix: A Brief Summary of Lacan’s Structuralist Theory of Discourse Notes References Part III: Popular Culture 10 Enjoying the Cinema Notes References 11 Losing What We Never Had: Žižek and Lacan Rock On with Bryan Adams Those Were the Best Days of My Life Standing on Your Mamma’s Porch I Close My Eyes, and She Slips Away Long After the Thrill of Living Is Gone Tonight, Let’s Enjoy Life Conclusion: Hold on to Sixteen as Long as You Can … Notes References 12 Interpellating Django: The Functions of the Gaze in Tarantino’s Django Unchained Note References 13. You Only Die Thrice: Zombies Revisited in The Walking Dead The Zombie Sub-genre Grotesque Zombie Sublime Death ad nauseam Holocaust Shades Notes References 14 They Were Created by Man … and They Have a Plan: Subjective and Objective Violence in Battlestar Galactica and the War on Terror Repetition and Farce in the “War on Terror” Subjective and Objective Violence Subjective and Objective Violence in BSG, or, You Can’t Love a Skin-Job Fear and Racism in the Human Fleet The Background First as Tragedy … Conclusion: Should We Care About the Tyrant’s Bloody Robes? Notes References Notes on Contributors Index