The Fragile Absolute: Or, Why is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For? [Paperback]

Slavoj iek (Author), Slavoj Zizek (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wo Es War Series | Publication Date: October 2001

Argues that the subversive core of the Christian legacy forms the foundation of a politics of universal emancipation.

With typical brio and boldness, Slavoj Zizek argues in The Fragile Absolute that the subversive core of the Christian legacy is much too precious to be left to the fundamentalists. Here is a fitting contribution from a Marxist to the 2000th anniversary of one who was well aware that to practice love in our world is to bring in the sword and fire.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Righteously to battle the tsunami of postmodern spiritual mush, Zizek attempts a reconciliation between Marxism and Christianity, eccentrically (against Nietzsche) trying to recuperate St Paul for the radical Christian.” (Steven Poole - The Guardian )

“With his characteristically frenetic and dizzying display of wit, Zizek will entertain and offend, but never bore.” (The Stranger )

“The most formidably brilliant exponent of psychoanalysis, indeed of cultural theory in general, to have emerged from Europe in some decades.” (Terry Eagleton )

Review

Zizek is a thinker who regards nothing as outside his field: the result is deeply interesting and provocative. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Verso (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859843263
• ISBN-13: 978-1859843260
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"The most dangerous philosopher in the West," (says Adam Kirsch of The New Republic) Slavoj Zizek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include "First as Tragedy, Then as Farce;" "Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle;" "In Defense of Lost Causes;" "Living in the End Times;" and many more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Theology for Marxists, Atheists and Agnostics, June 1, 2003

By 

Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fragile Absolute: Or, Why is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For? (Paperback)

A self-described "fighting atheist," though not a very conventional one, and an avowed Marxist, though not a very typical or orthodox one, Žižek writes rooted deeply within Lacanian psychoanalysis in order to produce some of the most intriguing, bewildering, and relevant philosophy concerned with post-modern conundrums such as relativism, agency, and subjecthood.

Žižek in this work embraces the shared Marxist and Christian messianic visions of history as an alternative to both the post-modern, New Age-Gnostic moral sludge dominating PC culture and the excesses of capital. The true heart of the work-and its most convincing parts as well-occur mid-way through in Žižek `s treatment of Pauline agape vs. the Law/Sin dialectic as it relates to modern human rights. More or less, this is a desperate attempt to revive Marxism as an alternative to Liberalism. Good Luck.

Žižek writes in a frenetic, gregarious style that is endearing but not necessarily rigorous. His penchant for citing movies, novels and popular culture besides the likes of Schelling, Lacan, Hegel and Heidegger lightens the atmosphere, but the problem is that many things that he says, many conclusions he arrives at from overly generalized instances of cultural practice are just blatantly false. Also, it can be annoying when he rambles on for five pages about a movie you've never seen, thus, making any attempt to understand his point tedious. [Recommendation: definitely make sure you've watched Hitchcock's VERTIGO before reading this book].

For me, Žižek is one of the authors with whom I part ways with on the big questions but with whom I often side with on the smaller questions. His acuity in the realm of cultural interpretation and his applications of Lacanian psychoanalysis to politics are both haunting and memorable long after you've finished the books. Re-reading this book, I came across this passage in footnote #12 that sent shivers down my spine with it's accuracy.

3.0 out of 5 stars If you've read one Zizek you've read half of all of him., June 29, 2011

By 

Andrew Rothwell (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fragile Absolute: Or, Why Is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For? (Second Edition) (The Essential Zizek) (Paperback)

Read one book by Zizek and you will have read half of his entire repertoire. He's a cool guy with cool insights on various things, but he pumps out books without much sustenance in them. Most of his books only approach the supposed theme tangentially and spend most of the time on other unrelated items.

The only thing I found interesting in this book is his insight on Diet Coke as objet petite a. It's interesting, but I have suspicions that it's not an entirely accurate reading of Lacan's objet petite a (or if it is, Zizek did not argue the point correctly/thoroughly).

If you haven't read him before, buy it. I would recommend something else, though, I preferred "Violence" over this one.
If you've read him and you're "meh" about him, save your money. If you want something different from him, buy "The Parallax View".
If you're a blowhard Zizek person.... well you probably bought this before even reading the review. And if you haven't you probably will anyways.

20 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much psycho-analysis, December 2, 2002

By 

joshua (London, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fragile Absolute: Or, Why is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For? (Paperback)

Okay, I know Zizek is a Lacanian, but I was hoping that he'd get beyond his neo-Freudianism in this book--considering that its billed as an intersection between Marx and Christianity. Indeed, the topic is very intriguing and Zizek's fundamental thesis--that Christianity should be saved and joined with Marxism--is compelling. I especially liked his treatment of "agape"...
The problem, however, is that Zizek's Lacanianism blinds him to the history of Marxist criticism. He mentions Adorno and Horkheimer at several points, but it is evident that he has not read Lukacs or Debord. This fact is obvious in his chapter entitled "The Spectre of Capitalism" where he writes, as if he has some profound insight, "this reduction of heavenly chimeras to brutal economic reality generates a spectrality of its own". if he had read Lukacs--who preceded Adorno and Horkheimer--he would realize that he's speaking about the concept "reification" which even A & H understood, having read "History and Class Consciousness". And Debord's concept of spectacular society rounds out Lukacs' take on "reification" and basically nullifies Zizek's next chapter. aside from reiterating Lukacs and Debord in his own convoluted language (and appearing to sound original), Zizek also rips of Deleuze and Guattari at numerous points without giving credit. Funny thing this, since D & G would have had nothing but derision for Zizek's Lacanianiasm--psycho-analytic criticism, grounded in Freud, is nothing but Statist and pro-Capitalist since it reinforces the Oedipal triangle. You would think that even Zizek would notice this fact.

Aside from these theoretical problems, "The Fragile Absolute" is still a very compelling read. One has to wonder, however, why Zizek thinks the merging of Marxism and Christianity is some kind of "new" strategy; wasn't this the fundamental thesis of Liberation Theology in the 1960s?