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The Parallax View

by Slavoj Zizek, Slavoj Žižek

4.09 · rating details · 348 ratings · 38 reviews

The Parallax View is Slavoj Zizek's most substantial theoretical work toappear in many years; Zizek himself describes it as his magnum opus. Parallax can bedefined as the apparent displacement of an object, caused by a change inobservational position. Zizek is interested in the "parallax gap" separating twopoints between which no synthesis or mediation is possibl

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Paperback, 433 pages

Published April 30th 2009 by MIT Press (MA)

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Dec 16, 2008

Justin rated it

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The problem with starting with the magnum opus, as this was the first book by Zizek that I'd read, is that it's almost way too sprawling to wrap your mind around. At the same time, hammering the theory down is almost essential to reading other books by Zizek. So, this is almost an essential book if you're tackling Zizek but be prepared to be reminded how much time you wasted hanging out with your friends and drinking instead of reading or, well, even seeing movies. Btw, the movie 'Matrix' is dis...more

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Sep 13, 2011

Kevin rated it

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Junk. Culture isn't a theoretical realm, it's real, it has operant archetypes, stability. Pressing his theoretical envelope into cogsci might be quirky or prescient for Zizek, but not when the meanings (parallax for one) are pressed into the service of theory instead of explored as valences or qualities, ie: proof and contrasts. Like Foucault, Slavoj is really a verbose circus ringleader who doesn't control his players, they merely show up as sound-bite references and he waxes poetics while they...moreJunk. Culture isn't a theoretical realm, it's real, it has operant archetypes, stability. Pressing his theoretical envelope into cogsci might be quirky or prescient for Zizek, but not when the meanings (parallax for one) are pressed into the service of theory instead of explored as valences or qualities, ie: proof and contrasts. Like Foucault, Slavoj is really a verbose circus ringleader who doesn't control his players, they merely show up as sound-bite references and he waxes poetics while they perform under his tent. Give us a thesis instead of theory, maybe then the proofs will line-up and offer some structure. This is the problem in philosophy-theory, it desperately wants to be a science (was Kant closest? Spinoza? Popper?) and by default, those late 20th century bloomers like Barthes, Foucault, and Zizek all employ semiosis or Freud/Lacan to instigate what should become a science but can't. Why? The tools (language) don't match the organ (mind-body-neural net). There's a vast divide between meaning and myth, even between verb and noun. These are all kings' languages (the vast IE: indo-european) the theorists and scientists are forced to use (consider the idiocy of labeling species with latin names and calling it 'scientific'). The interzone are linguists like Jackendoff and Chomsky who unwittingly try and bridge the verbs with the brain, but they're so busy proving a neural set of rules, the theory falls to the side, where it will belong forever discarded. Study the brain, know your IE is a flawed lingual tree hopelessly devolving. Zizek can print all the ideas of parallax he wants (my favorite is Kafka's inanimal contrast to our logic of inhuman), but he can't scrape it to match the brain's vast insight using the meaning of optical parallax. The paradox is Zizek gets the airplay (500+ ratings in Goodreads) while contemporary cogsci masters like Zenon Pylshyn, who are doing the work Ziz can only dream about, gets three. I come to bury Caeser, before he is deified.(less)

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Dec 25, 2010

Philip rated it

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anyone who says this book is hard, tuff, resistant to interpatation is the enemy to the opposition.
haha, yes they are a friend. i have a strange pathology,idk why maybe i was journalist or fbi police whatever in another life ,i have to take notes and check every fact look up writers read their works its stupid to be this way but i am curious to a fault and this drives me to what end not a comprehensive understanding of zizek but a reasonible idea of the conceptual "shoulders" he ...more

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Jan 30, 2010

Julie rated it

So far i have understood 'bracketing' from Zizek as i had not yet. and it answers a question, how does this idea help unmovable students to move into a/the discussion?

Because of bracketing, we can place a wedge in between attitudes and open up the space where prodcution and circulation move,

Zizek writes,

"The basic Hegelian correction of Kant is thus that the three domains of reason (theoretial, practical, aesthetic) emerge through the shift in the subjec...moreSo far i have understood 'bracketing' from Zizek as i had not yet. and it answers a question, how does this idea help unmovable students to move into a/the discussion?

Because of bracketing, we can place a wedge in between attitudes and open up the space where prodcution and circulation move,

Zizek writes,

"The basic Hegelian correction of Kant is thus that the three domains of reason (theoretial, practical, aesthetic) emerge through the shift in the subjects attitude that is through "bracketing": the object of science emerges through bracketing cognitive-theoretical concerns; and the aesthetic domain emerges through bracketing theoretical and moral concerns" (p. 50). That is to say, we bring a productive attitude towards our work in these areas whether we mean to or not, albeit obtained by different kinds of correct reasoning.

But the awareness of these differences, is a reification or rather is just an abstraction. Thus language and communication occurs in a space of an imagined a 'leap of faith' where the value of the terms being discussed are understood and accepted. We owe this to Kant. Kant would say the meaning is immanent in the terms of the words and is within basis of discussion just waiting to be emerged in the act of communicating, as an immanent unfolding.

Zizek takes another view based on his reading of Hegel and Marx. It is precisely these antinomies, or the contradictions in these attitudes of knowledge, theoretical, practical and aesthetic - of both writers and readers, that forms a more fragile state where value is both implicit in the words and is created in the act of communicating them, by bracketing our concerns vis-a-vis other concerns.

Within this space between concerns, or meaning-value a parallax is presented. Zizek says that due to this tension space, a temporary synthesis must occur here. The tension between production and circulation (of unclear terms - my add here) is that of the parallax (pp.50-52). Certain words like elite, assume a provisional place as a shared meaning in communication. But really, because these meanings are of the parallax, originally from contradictory attitudes about elitism and modes of understanding elitism, a tension is produced in communicating them. For example, If we use the word elite or philosophy, why strive for its clear meaning if we already have it? (p. 52) Zizek asks us, "why strive for something that we allegedly already have?" (p. 52)

Thus, Zizek claims, it's ultimate lack of guarantee is exposed, by presenting what we should strive for as already accomplished (p. 52).

ok, that was just two pages.

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Jan 28, 2012

Dustyn Hessie rated it

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Shelves: big-books, brilliant, literary, nonfiction, profound, psyche, anglointernational

Resistance to this tome is understandable, especially considering the tremendous emphasis Zizek gives to ontology (which has always been a deterrent for the feeble American mind). But, the key to reading any "dense" philosophical text, from Hegel to Lacan to Zizek, I think, is to understand what you can and keep pushing along with a reasonable disposition to openness (example: we might not immediately understand what retroactive determination is by just reading the text, but if we are ...more

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Oct 12, 2010

Matthew is currently reading it

I'm currently reading this book but realistically don't know if I'll finish it in my lifetime. Perhaps a long, long vacation or a good stint of jail time, and then I could complete it. Zizek writes in an ultra-rich, ultra-dense style, with copious parentheticals and footnotes, and I think the font is like 11 point or something. The 375 pages or so are deceptive. It is a TOME. Nonetheless, I enjoy reading Zizek. Zizek! He is a philosopher/cultural theorist who'll mix Kant with Stephen King, Hegel...more

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Jun 29, 2009

Chris rated it

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Shelves: critical-theory, philosophy, political-philosophy, psychoanalysis, continental, marxism, favorites

In the documentary Zizek!, the man claims that his three best and most theoretically significant books are (assuming, in true Hegelian fashion, that you can also count three as four): The Sublime Object of Ideology, Tarrying with the Negative, The Ticklish Subject, and The Parallax View. This then allows us to delineate the conceptual trajectory of Zizek's career so far: from the Object, through Negativity, to the Subject, and finally, Parallax. What justifies Zizek in claiming (on the dust jack...moreIn the documentary Zizek!, the man claims that his three best and most theoretically significant books are (assuming, in true Hegelian fashion, that you can also count three as four): The Sublime Object of Ideology, Tarrying with the Negative, The Ticklish Subject, and The Parallax View. This then allows us to delineate the conceptual trajectory of Zizek's career so far: from the Object, through Negativity, to the Subject, and finally, Parallax. What justifies Zizek in claiming (on the dust jacket) that this is his "magnum opus"? If anything can legitimate this claim, it is that in this work Zizek finally lays claim to his distinctive ontology (although Zizek would not claim its distinctiveness, he would claim that it is Hegel's ontology, albeit Hegel read in a Lacanian vein)--the ontology of the barred S, the split-subject, the self-different One. This ontology gathers together all the concepts of his intellectual trajectory: both subject and object are nothing more than pure self-relating negativity, and it is only through the shifts of parallax that allow us to discern the difference (which is minimal). This ontology has guided Zizek in an implicit fashion from the beginning, but it is only recently that Zizek has had develop it in an explicit fashion, to differentiate his position from that of his contemporaries'--most notably from Alain Badiou's mathematical ontology of pure multiplicity woven from the Void.

In this book Zizek develops a new conceptual operator, that of the Parallax Gap, which takes its place alongside Zizek's other theoretical conceptual operators--the Vanishing Mediator, the Indivisible Remainder, the Minimal Difference, etc. Zizek employs a curious (and to some, frustrating) methodology in elaborating his theoretical concepts; rather than articulating them in a concise theortical description, he merely puts them to work in example after example in different contexts. In this book Zizek runs through the usual gamut of intellectual domains in elaborating the notion of parallax gap: from german idealism to Christian theology, cognitive brain sciences to contemprorary politico-economic ideology. (The chapters on cognitive science--a field only recently taken up by Zizek--are particularly impressive.) This methodology demands a peculiar sort of engagement from the reader, in that in order to really discern the theoretical stakes of Zizek's arguments, one has to read carefully and not get distracted by the innumerable references to popular culture, literature and cinema. One must discern, under the continually variegated examples adduced to illustrate his claims, the theoretical tools at work. Anyone willing to give this book the exertion and discipline required, however will be amply rewarded.

This book certainly rates as one of Zizek's best, and is crucial for understanding Zizek's most recent conceptual innovations and his grasp on the ideological coordinates of a post-9/11 world. Although his other books contain specific engagements on various topics of cultural relevance, to understand the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of his engagement, this book is a must read.(less)

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Apr 09, 2009

Matt rated it

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Definitely not the most engaging Zizek I've read, but not because it isn't full of interesting ideas. Rather it's because in order to fully follow Zizek's arguments here you need to have first read and comprehended the work of Hegel, Lacan, Dennett, Marx, Deleuze & Guattori, Kant, Chalmers, Heidegger, Badiou, Nietzshe; I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. The assumed knowledge of the reader is just absurd, but I guess the intended audience is professional academic philosophers.
That s...more

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Sep 05, 2008

Andrew added it · review of another edition

Shelves: theeeeeeory

This is my first foray into Zizek, and he claims this is his magnum opus. Admission #1: I've never read Lacan, and what I've encountered of his ideas has made me ask "really?" Which is less of a problem when reading Zizek than I would expect. I find the idea of the "objet petit a" pretty interesting, so this might lead to some interesting Lacanian readings down the line. There's no real thesis statement, and that makes this book pretty frustrating in a lot of ways as well...more

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Mar 12, 2008

Erwin rated it

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Recommends it for: People with a casual interest in High Theory (Yes, those five people!)

The Parallax View, which the ever-prolific Slavoj Zizek has declared the "magnum opus" of his substantial oeuvre, is a generally rewarding if uneven work.

I took from it this: every posited antinomy, opposition or other binarism conceals in itself a more pluriform nature, the terms themselves irreducible to themselves (a challenge to Western thoughts principle of identity: an entity is identical to itself[?]), leaving an irreducible bare difference(the old Derridean stand-by...moreThe Parallax View, which the ever-prolific Slavoj Zizek has declared the "magnum opus" of his substantial oeuvre, is a generally rewarding if uneven work.

I took from it this: every posited antinomy, opposition or other binarism conceals in itself a more pluriform nature, the terms themselves irreducible to themselves (a challenge to Western thoughts principle of identity: an entity is identical to itself[?]), leaving an irreducible bare difference(the old Derridean stand-by) that remains largely unaccountable but ontologically substantial nonetheless -- a locus of "the Real." Ultimately uncognizable, this difference, which for Zizek is the Lacanian "objet petit a," opens a parallax gap wherein this difference, though uncognizable, nevertheless serves as a common referent among the actors of any ideological disagreement.

I found this a compelling thesis, and Zizek, though often given to an over-reliance on rhetorical questions, ellipses, and anacoluthon (this latter tendency perhaps inspired by St. Paul, himself an inveterate employer of anacoluthon, whom Z. frequently discusses in the early portions of TPV), is in the main persuasive. (I have to balk, however, at Z.'s frequent recourse to pop-cultural examples. Are overwrought, pandering summer blockbusters like The Matrix and The Revenge of the Sith really so fraught with important theoretical implications?) The real shortcoming of TPV, as I see it, comes in the final pages, wherein Z., having explicated his theory, waxes prescriptive, encouraging his readers to embody the "Bartleby-parallax" in order to avoid being caught up in the Hegelian pseudo-negations of counterhegemonic practices. We must be as resistant to the latter in our "preferring-not-to's" as to the hegemonic ills the latter are intended to redress -- "I prefer not to eat factory-farmed, adulterated, GM food; I prefer not to purchase food from an organic farming co-op." Because not to do so and to remain, rather, in the old dialectic of resorting to alternatives to dismaying hegemony, is to remain ensnared in the Foucaultian circuits of power that result in the eternal recursion and reinscription of extant relations. The parallactic Bartleby disrupts the workings of ideological apparatuses by cultivating an inner disposition of refusal until, according to Z., there opens up possibilities that are not determined by the dialectic.

This is precisely where Z. lost me. I recall Bartleby's fate: blind, starving, homeless, jailed ... eventually dead. And, for all of Z.'s hostility to what he calls "postmodern techno-gnosticism," Bartleby seem an odd exemplar, given the fact that Herman Melville, Bartleby's creator, often mused upon the tenets of Gnosticism (He composed a poem on gnosticism, and The Confidence Man, his last published novel, arguably lends itself to a gnostic reading). Z.'s recommendation here seems too close to Baudrillard's injunction to "be silent" in the face of popular media -- essentially to choose a mode of resistance likely futile, all while consoling oneself that futility is inevitable, until from the inchoate parallax gap of the Real messianically springs, like Athena from the head of Zeus, the possibility of truly efficacious revolution.(less)

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Jun 30, 2009

Sean Billy rated it

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Recommended to Sean Billy by: Keith Mitnick

I've picked it up again and am going to need to reread most of it. I'm glad i took notes and highlighted, this ain't no easy read.

After picking up this book after a course from my professor in architecture, I have been reading this book for a while now and putting it up and down periodically cause it takes a lot of concentration to grind through. I liked it a lot although I decided that my interests were satisfied after the first two sections of the book and am putting it down with...more

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Aug 26, 2008

Nolan rated it

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The Parallax View was, for me, one of those books that seemed to come along at just the right moment. Though at first his writing was too dense with references for my taste, the arguments he attempts to make are compelling, his anecdotes are funny and support his various theses -- one ultimately learns to decode the language and pull from it enough to feel satisfied. I wasn't familiar with Lacan or psychoanalytic theory (beyond popular references in the media) before reading The Parallax View, a...more

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Mar 16, 2007

mariah rated it

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Recommends it for: theory-enthusiasts, zizek lovers, pop culture vultures

Shelves: theory

Zizek is pretty cool, particularly amongst theorist. He is an odd blend of popculture, high brow cultural theory and film critic. Though a quick explaination of what the book is about is a little difficult, the concept of a gap between points is very relevant to some of my academic studies. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to expand their repetoire in films or other theory... it's chock full of references. Zizek is also a good read. I guess the biggest thing I got out of this book was...more

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Mar 08, 2009

Jimmy marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: western-philosophy, partially-read

And never will finish it, or pick up another one of his books again for that matter. There is far too much structural artifice, and ironic use of tyrannical ideology for me to take him seriously. It's a shame that so many people take to heart what this man has to say about leftist ideology and political revolution, when I seriously doubt that half of his readers actually know exactly what he is talking about. Granted, I could be wrong about all of this, but I find most of his writings to be h...more

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Jul 03, 2010

Andy Fugard rated it

Žižek isn't easy to read and a lot of it feels like bluff. But I enjoyed the jokes and there are some great analogies for making sense of things, like cognition

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Nov 13, 2008

Mike rated it

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Though you find many of the now common witticisms that are used in all of his other books (space fillers, maybe lazy fingers), I couldn't finish this book because it referenced too many unfamiliar people and ideas. Maybe when I come back to it it will make more sense. I hope so, because I like his other books. Whether or not they make a real contribution to theoretical academia or anything at all seems beyond the point. The small pieces of illumination are enough to shrug off any misgivings ...more

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Aug 24, 2009

Everett rated it

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My third Zizek book, definitely the most "theoretical." Makes me want to read the actual philosophers he talks about. What more can I say? This stuff is like candy to me.

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Aug 22, 2011

Buzz Borders rated it

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Another amazing book by Zizek. His insights are frustrating, heartbreaking and so true one can't live the same life after the book.

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Jul 17, 2010

mahatma rated it

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buku ini bagian dari suatu seri.
di pembukaannya zizek mengajak untuk mengamati gejala 'kortsluiting' atau hubungan pendek pada kabel listrik yang esring dinilai sebagai suatu kecelakaan atau suatu hubungan yang tidak dikehendaki.
di sini ia mengajak agar membaca teks secara kortsluiting tadi, untuk mendapatkan makna-makna baru darinya. itulah yang sudah dikerjakan oleh marx, freud, nietsche, foucault dan filsuf lain dalam pembacaan teks-teks sejamannya.
pada hemat saya,
suar...more

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Feb 26, 2007

dave eck rated it

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Shelves: philosophy

Rent his movie, Slavoj Zizek: The Academic Rock Star, and if you love it, laugh at it and find yourself listening to it, then read one of his books.

This may be his most theoretical book--I'm not sure because it's the only one I've read. But don't let that scare you off from this book, because when it comes to Zizek more theoretical isn't necessarily a bad thing. Zizek believes in structure and so he thinks in terms of structure as well, this book being one in which the structure of ...more

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Feb 24, 2010

Erin marked it as will-never-finish

i've had this book since 2005 - don't know if i'll ever finish it.

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Aug 09, 2007

Karl Steel rated it

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Shelves: theory

I've read some Zizek--Plague of Fantasies, Welcome to the Desert, Enjoy Your Symptom--and found myself getting fed up with his self-plagiarism or, let's be gentle, tendency towards efficiency in getting across ideas he'd sprang on us before. Someone in the know advised me to read this one and just stop: you get everything here, even most of the jokes we've seen before.

...okay, now that I've finished it. It is basically your one-stop place. But I'd supplement it with the Truth of Zize...more

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Oct 18, 2010

gieb marked it as to-read · review of another edition

dapat ebook-nya. sing iki sik niat kate diwoco.

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Oct 07, 2010

Barry marked it as abandoned · review of another edition

this is very readable even tho dense and predicated on knowing a bunch of stuff i dont understand (Hegel) and as much as i want to go with him wherever he takes me, i mistrust his overall economic/political imperative which seems to be his ultimate goal and culture and cognition will have to find their place within that for him (from what i can tell), so i dont think im gonna bother with it anymore

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Mar 20, 2007

Benjamin Klein is currently reading it · review of another edition

I am finding this a good collection of names and references to check out along with having a good mind-trip.

For example I'm like "wow, that totally blows my mind!!...but I need to maybe know a little bit more about Hegel/Lacan/Spinoza/Adorno/etc. I then go to: http://www.gutenberg.org

and see what I can see on all the dead dudes.

You can get a pretty interesting movie list from this book as well.

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Sep 21, 2008

Sara-Maria Sorentino rated it

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every time i almost lose my patience with or respect for zizek, he goes and blows my mind. i prefer his earlier theoretical works but there were some parts in this, his "magnum opus", in which i was spellbound--particularly those concerning freedom and fate.

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Mar 10, 2008

David rated it

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Shelves: university-of-chicago-2007-08

Finally, I'm on to the "magnum opus!" I must admit, however, that I find his earlier books to be superior to this one. I'm coming to think that the Sublime Object and Tarrying with the Negative are the high points of his output thus far.

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Feb 08, 2010

Jason rated it

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Zizek is probably the most astute and challenging interpreter of early 21st century political and philosophical thinking I've ever encountered. It is quite academic but non-the-less rewarding. If you are up for a challenge read this.

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Aug 04, 2007

Richard rated it

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The author of this book is purported to be some type of genius or other because he unites the insights of Hegel and Lacan...in order to interpret Johnny Cash lyrics. This might be grounds for questioning his geniushood.

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Sep 13, 2008

Larry rated it

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Zizek is the smartest eurocentric, Christian, Hegelian Marxist (or is it Marxist Hegelian, or both a Marxist and a Hegelian...whatever) I know of.

(His section on conciousness was really good)

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“What we are dealing with here is another version of the Lacanian 'il n'y a pas de rapport ...': if, for Lacan, there is no sexual relationship, then, for Marxism proper, there is no relationship between economy and politics, no 'meta-language' enabling us to grasp the two levels from the same neutral standpoint, although—or, rather, because—these two levels are inextricably intertwined.” — 4 people liked it

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