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In Defense of Lost Causes

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Author: Slavoj Zizek
Publisher: Verso
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$34.95~~
Buy New: $20.92
You Save: $14.03 (40%)

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Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

2 reviews
Sales Rank: 46043

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 504
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7

ISBN: 1844671089
Dewey Decimal Number: 199.4973
EAN: 9781844671083
ASIN: 1844671089

Publication Date: April 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
A witty, adrenalin-fuelled manifesto for universal values by the maverick philosopher.

Is global emancipation a lost cause? Are universal values outdated relics of an earlier age? In the postmodern world, ideologies of all kinds have been cast in doubt. In this combative new work, renowned theorist Slavoj Zizek takes on the reigning postmodern agenda with a manifesto for several "lost causes." From a provocative redemption of Heidegger's engagement with the Third Reich as "a right step in the wrong direction," to reasserting class struggle as the underlying reality of global capitalism, to a defense of the emancipatory legacy of Christianity against New Age spiritualism, Zizek confronts the failures of contemporary theory and proposes unexpected resolutions.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

No one said it would be easy June 25, 2008
8 out of 15 found this review helpful

Mao said, the revolution is not a dinner party, and along the way horrible things may happen, Zizek here reclaims, or claims again(resurgence) the demise of thinking through the paradigm of change, it is not so much a matter of what has gone wrong but seeing one's mistakes, failing and going on- at it again, he likes Beckett's apt phrase, of Fail and fail again,we are human failure is part of what we do, nature somehow missed this, for now we may create ourselves out of existence with control over bio-political horizons, cloning,DNA research;software robotics;there is a chapter on this;UNBEHAGEN IN DER NATUR; but Zizek is getting good at writing, yes the entertainment factor is contained, he relies on sober analysis of the state of democracy and culture, exploitation,religion,hot spots the Right and the Left, the points of representation as the favelas, or the Zapatistas, Lulu in Brazil, the Left in Europe,Negri, Mao, Lenin, Critchley and Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, all become objects for contemplation on the objects of the state and transformations or lack thereof, the Cultural Revolution,(can collectives run the state?) all through the Lens of Lacan at times, or Hegel,certainly Marx; all well thought through; You come away with a real sense of knowing where things are within the globe, where greed resides,false hopes; "what should be done", and not done, the spectre of Walter Benjamin hovers here with the strain of Messianism, reclaiming the path to enlightenment and simple understanding, why revolutions failed is not so much the aim here as how to pick up the pieces once the Winter Palace was seized; perhaps Lenin believed in revolution but also that nothing happened in Soviet Russia; dual powere as well is great objects for discussion, as we find today, Zizek opts for a kind of nomadic resistence, create your own alternate spaces within capitalism, it is not going away, work within it, give concerts of political music in your friend's loft(don't publicize it) and invite your marxist friends(Freundshaft) with your stock broker friends as well;Deleuze as well makes an appearence herein, the "objects without a body",(OwaB)and(BwaO)sort of a Webern-ian mirror reversal on virtuality, the the spaces we like to inhabit, our comfort zones of contemplation and cognition;Zizek also follows quite well serious music, with a fascinating discussion on the "smoking gun" of Shostakovich, was he a committed socialist or not,with hundreds of thousands of dollars in production of the performances of his symphonies, I'd think the fundraising boards at USA orchestras should know. . . he is compared to Prokofiev,who was above all this dirty poltical stuff. . . great read . . .

5 out of 5 stars

New territory for the Big Z? May 20, 2008
15 out of 41 found this review helpful

While I have yet to finish my recently purchased copy I can say that to some extent, much of this is the same ol' Zizek mentioning Hegel at the top of the page and moving on to "The Break Up" with Jennifer Aniston and whats-his-face at the bottom (hooray pop and highbrow culture mixing, how superficially 'postmodern', etc.). But of course that is part of the tongue that is in the cheek while reading Zizek that is pleasurable, only here his overall argument remains compelling and insistent (as opposed to somewhat vague and sporadic in "The Parallax View") as he attempts to summon a spirit virile enough to advocate universal emancipation once again (i.e. "Think Globally, Act Globally).

While the book could take its time to weave its way through the halls of academia and other popular channels, I feel confident this tome caps a comforting wave of other newly-translated texts and memes entering Anglo-American discourse (namely, that of revolutionary terror and the actual pursuit of leftist power) from the likes of Verso, the ripples thereof to be seen in coming decades in a (one hopes) tidal wave of social action.

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