The Essential Žižek: The Complete Set: The Sublime Object of Ideology / The Ticklish Subject / The Fragile Absolute / The Plague of Fantasies

by Slavoj Žižek

Slavoj Zizek, the maverick philosopher, author of over 30 books, acclaimed as the 'Elvis of cultural theory, ' and today's most controversial public intellectual. His work traverses the fields of philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history and political theory, taking in film, popular culture, literature and jokes -- all to provide acute analyses of the complexities of contemporary ideology as well as a serious and sophisticated philosophy. His recent films The Pervert's Guide to the Cinema and Zizek reveal a theorist at the peak of his powers and a skilled communicator. Now Verso are making these four classic titles, that stand as the core of his ever-expanding life's work, available as new editions. Each is beautifully repackaged, including new introductions from Zizek himself. Simply put, they are the essential texts for understanding Zizek's thought and thus cornerstones of contemporary philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Theory

1248 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2009

About the author

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovene sociologist, philosopher, and cultural critic.

He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of SFR Yugoslavia). He received a Doctor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Ljubljana and studied psychoanalysis at the University of Paris VIII with Jacques-Alain Miller and François Regnault. In 1990 he was a candidate with the party Liberal Democracy of Slovenia for Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia (an auxiliary institution, abolished in 1992).

Since 2005, Žižek has been a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Žižek is well known for his use of the works of 20th century French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in a new reading of popular culture. He writes on many topics including the Iraq War, fundamentalism, capitalism, tolerance, political correctness, globalization, subjectivity, human rights, Lenin, myth, cyberspace, postmodernism, multiculturalism, post-marxism, David Lynch, and Alfred Hitchcock.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País he jokingly described himself as an "orthodox Lacanian Stalinist". In an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! he described himself as a "Marxist" and a "Communist."

Reviews

[Heidi]

I am half way through Violence: big ideas/small books. Zizek jackhammer's his ideas into your skull with sarcasm and wit, jumping between regional and global politics and pop culture. I don't agree with everything, but when the clouds part (ie i agree or understand) it blows my mind- multiple mental orgasms.

[Marc Chéhab · Rating 2 out of 5]

After having read two and a half of his books and watched hours of his stuff on youtube, it evades me what fascinated me in the first place. He communicates philosophy with wit, charm and insult (always the best combination), but on the bottom line - to me - they bring no insight. I'd say Zizek's popularity has more to do with the poverty of leftist thinking nowadays (in that way he's not so different from organic food, GMO-activism, anti-nuclear-demos, and the like)...

The grand weakness of all of Zizek's work is ultimately his idealism: He sees ideas/ideologies/the structure of thought/psychoanalytic theory as concrete things in human beings that are universal. So, he is essentially making loads of human nature arguments - and never presents a shred of evidence to back them up. He just starts with "I claim..", something like "that ideology functions objectively," and then he makes a joke to illustrate what he means and goes on. Also, when he does analyse such an "ideology", he doesn't justify why this should be one coherent thing in the first place.

In the end, maybe I would have liked Zizek to write similarly to how he does, but more concretely. Because ultimately, if you ask him what the left should do today, his answer is: "nothing, think". Wow, how revolutionary :)

[Wil · Rating 5 out of 5]

classic quartet of Zizek

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Adorno, Zizek is ur guy. He has a unique understanding of the forces that manipulate human consciousness

[ssopm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect with a reading though Christopher Lasche's Culture of Narcissism. Not Zizeks best, but another fantastic reading of the modernization of enjoyment.

[Ghassan Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heaps of allegories and illustrations with wit and humour.

[Kathryn]

plague of fantasies