The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits) [Paperback]

Slavoj Zizek (Author)

Book Description

Series: Short Circuits | Publication Date: August 29, 2003

Slavoj Zizek has been called "an academic rock star" and "the wild man of theory"; his writing mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop culture in order to dissect current intellectual pieties. In The Puppet and the Dwarf he offers a close reading of today's religious constellation from the viewpoint of Lacanian psychoanalysis. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality--New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian Judaism--and then tries to redeem the "materialist" kernel of Christianity. His reading of Christianity is explicitly political, discerning in the Pauline community of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of Enlightenment like Jurgen Habermas acknowledge that a religious vision is needed to ground our ethical and political stance in a "postsecular" age, this book--with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same time indebted to the core of the Christian legacy--is certain to stir controversy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With this book Zizek consolidates his reputation as the foremost intellectual gadfly of the postmodern cosmopolis. For anyone interested in the contemporary vogue of the 'theological turn' or theories of 'religion without God,' *The Puppet and the Dwarf* is indispensable reading.... If Socrates underwent a ten-year analysis with Jacques Lacan, the result would be Slavoj Zizek."--Richard Wolin, Distinguished Professor of History and Comparative Literature, the Graduate Center, City University of New York

"A witty, informative trip... both erudite and accessible...." Rick Mitchell Leonardo Reviews

"His writing is bold, confident and contentious." Julian Baggini The Philosopher's Magazine

" The Puppet and the Dwarf is Zizek"s most compelling and passionate writing on Christianity to date." Erik Davis Bookforum

"Quite possibly the most entertaining philosopher working today. Zizek knows how to think the unthinkable." Jori Finkel Village Voice

"Slavoj Zizek may have the strongest 'brand identity'... of any cultural theorist now in the marketplace of ideas." Scott McLemee The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Zizek is the first Marxist to write theology in a post-marxist, post-secular age." Eugene McCarraher In These Times

"... Zizek mixes Pauline speculations with analyses of everything from G. K. Chesterton to chocolate eggs." Terry Eagleton TLS

"Zizek rarely fails to entertain...." Charles Seymour Library Journal

About the Author

Slavoj Zizek is a philosopher and cultural critic. He has published over thirty books, including Looking Awry, The Puppet and the Dwarf, and The Parallax View (these three published by the MIT Press).

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262740257
• ISBN-13: 978-0262740258
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,293 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

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christianity as the original atheism?, November 30, 2004

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Saul Boulschett "Anyway" (Dry land) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits) (Paperback)

You're either gonna read Zizek -- because you have to or because you just love this guy -- or you are not, regardless of any review. So I'll keep it brief: Yes, the rambling style can be distracting as well as entertaining when he gets it right.

The book is not so much about Christianity as it is about what Zizek claims to be the very core of it, where there is another dimension. And in discussing the core as such, the book takes off as a reading of the symbolic structure (Lacanian) that made it possible for the transition from Judaic Law to Christian Love; and St. Paul's role in it. Jesus' "Father why hast thou forsaken me?" is one of the loci of Zizek's defense of the "ex-timate" kernel of Christianity: 'Imitatio Christi' as sharing Jesus' own doubt -- not of God's existence but rather of His Impotence. And after taking some very general swipes at Buddhism for (supposedly) aiming for that state (Nirvana) in which all differences are leveled, Zizek presents the genius of Christianity as the religion of Difference in which the very separation between God and Man is God-as-Man. Zizek argues against the idea that the Fall and Redemption are polarities but that the Fall IS Redemption, the Opening of the very space of Redemption.

The crux of Zizek's "argument" boils down to what he says in the last page: "...It is possible today to redeem this core of Christianity only in the gesture of abandoning the shell of its institutional organization (and even more so, of its specific religious experience). The gap here is irreducible: either one drops the religious form, or one maintains the form but lose the essence. This is the ultimate heroic gesture that awaits Christianity: in order to save its treasure, it has to sacrifice itself -- like Christ, who had to die so that Christianity could emerge."

The basic attitude of the book is fueled by contempt for opportunistic liberals, academics, and intellectuals, in short, the Last Man, who drinks decaf and jogs to stay fit, and make a habit of demanding the highest ethical ideals from society KNOWING full well society cannot possibly deliver. Zizek's venom is aimed at the fact that this very impossibility allows intellectuals without any real moral commitment to wallow smug their safe, cushy university jobs and still feel good about themselves for having demonstrated a nobler social conscience: A life devoted to speaking dangerously with all the possibility of danger (and caffeine) removed.

Zizek's enlistment of G.K.Chesterton -- who was, himself, perverse enough to speak (and very convincingly too!) of the "Thrilling Romance of Orthodoxy" -- to kick off his argument is a brilliant move and that alone makes this book worth reading.

Read this book like it was a clearance sale where everything is 90% off: the only thing is, some very fine finds come attached to a lot of junk you don't need. So, keep the baby and throw out the bath water -- even if you know Zizek can convince you that it's really the bath water you should keep.

58 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars One of Zizek's least compelling works, December 5, 2003

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P. Gunderson (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits) (Paperback)

Zizek is a remarkable Lacanian cultural theorist, and his work deserves to be taken seriously; unfortunately, it is beginning to appear as if Zizek doesn't even take his own project seriously. How else can one explain the poor organization and endless series of digressions that constitute this book?

Most of Zizek's earlier books (The Sublime Object of Ideology, Looking Awry, etc.) give strong accounts how how Lacanian psychoanalysis can be used to analyze contemporary culture; in these works Zizek is never at a loss to show how pop culture can illustrate difficult concepts. The end result was usually a witty, incisive demystification of conservative capitalist ideology.

Unfortunately, "The Puppet and the Dwarf" falls far short of Zizek's past accomplishments. The anecdotes are still there, but they are piled up in a heap with no coherent thread of argument. There are interesting ideas in here about critical negativity in Christianity, but it is far too difficult to discern how Zizek's scattered insights hang together. In the end the reader winds up feeling more like s/he is the object of an intellectual confidence game than anything else.

Readers who don't already know Zizek's work are advised to start with earlier texts. Readers who do know Zizek's work should wait for something worthwhile.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What can one say about Zizek?, February 6, 2005

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Lost Lacanian (Lost-in, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits) (Paperback)

Okay, so what can one say about Zizek?--at times brilliant, infuriating, outrageous...yes, all of the above. If you are looking for the secrets that unfold time and space itself, then, this is not the book for you. But, if you are looking for a fantastic read of applied Lacanian theory on religion and other cultural arenas, then, by all means this book is worth the buy. It is almost getting trite to hear people complain about Zizek's style, analysis, originality, etc...After all, he is only a man. Rather, to focus on the strengths of this book: it does a good job of introducing one to some interesting Lacanian issues, such as the the super-ego, the idea that the Other does not exist, Lacan's interesting thesis that God is not dead but unconscious, just to name a few. Also, many of the jokes that Zizek loves to tell are put into footnotes instead of the body of the text which gives the text more focus. Also, if one has been keeping up with Zizek's interventions into Christianity versus Judaism, then, one may be interested in this book because he does change some of his positions. All in all, this book represents some of Zizek's best work since "Ticklish Subject."