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Slavoj Žižek

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Welcome to the Desert of the Real: Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates Paperback – October 17, 2002

by Slavoj Zizek (Author)

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Liberals and conservatives proclaim the end of the American holiday from history. Now the easy games are over; one should take sides. iek argues this is precisely the temptation to be resisted. In such moments of apparently clear choices, the real alternatives are most hidden. Welcome to the Desert of the Real steps back, complicating the choices imposed on us. It proposes that global capitalism is fundamentalist and that America was complicit in the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. It points to our dreaming about the catastrophe in numerous disaster movies before it happened, and explores the irony that the tragedy has been used to legitimize torture. Last but not least it analyzes the fiasco of the predominant leftist response to the events.

Print length

154 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Verso
Publication date

October 17, 2002
Dimensions

4.33 x 0.46 x 8.2 inches
ISBN-10

1859844219
ISBN-13

978-1859844212
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Fierce brilliance ... scintillating.”—Steven Poole, Guardian (in praise of Living in the End Times)

“Never ceases to dazzle.”—Brian Dillon, Daily Telegraph (in praise of Living in the End Times)

“iek is to today what Jacques Derrida was to the ’80s: the thinker of choice for Europe’s young intellectual vanguard.”—Observer (in praise of Living in the End Times)

About the Author

Slavoj iek 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 Living in the End Times, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, In Defense of Lost Causes, four volumes of the Essential iek, and many more.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso; First Edition (October 17, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 154 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1859844219
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1859844212
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.33 x 0.46 x 8.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,358,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,465 in Political Philosophy (Books)
- #8,219 in Political Ideologies & Doctrines (Books)
- #15,274 in Sociology (Books)

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4.2 21 ratings

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Slavoj Žižek

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"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.

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4.2 out of 5

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bob phoenix

On the whole he is an astounding philosopher (watch him on video)

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2017

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It is an interesting tale on 9-11. Subject is a lightweight compared with his opus:
'Less than Nothing' which is astounding and VERY difficult. But I measure hin by the
latter so his political 'short-essays' are never quite complete. On the whole he is an
astounding philosopher ( watch him on video)

One person found this helpful

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D McFall

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2018

great.

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2002

To people who come to this book looking for an analysis of the attacks on the World Trade Center this book will appear to be peculiar and eccentric, and therefore in questionable taste. Slavoj Zisek is a Marxist philosopher from the formerly Yugoslav republic of Slovenia. (At the same time he is quite caustic against those who think that Milosevic's horrors could have been avoided by an appeal to the cosmopolitan virtues of Titoism. Not within the party framework, at any rate.) He has a special interest in the French psychoanalyst Lacan, which does not stop him from discussing other imposing figures such as Hegel, Adorno, Foucault and, suprisingly in this book, G.K. Chesterton. At the same time he discusses popular movies from "Unbreakable" to "Shrek." Like Terry Eagleton he has a fondness, and a weakness, for paradox and contradiction. A person examining this book will note that the five essays are not as concise and straightforward as they may appear. (They will also note that this book has six chapters.) The unsympathetic reader may wonder how we get from the events of September 11th to sado-masochism and "The Piano Teacher," to Judith Butler and Antigone. Given the bottomless malice of Al Qaidya towards any concept of freedom, surely, one might state, it is irresponsible to say that freedom of thought is the surest way of ensuring submission and control (as Zisek suggests in his introduction)?
In fact, Zisek is a stimulating and important writer and the reader should take the effort to appreciate him. To the extent that this book has a thesis it is expressed on the cover. Instead of the attacks forcing the United States to rethink its attitude towards the rest of the world, it has allowed itself to view itself solely as a victim. By contrast "That is the true lesson of the attacks: the only way to ensure that it will not happen here again is to prevent it happening anywhere else." At the same time Zisek is vehement against those who showed a certain schaudenfreude at American suffering, or those tempted to euphemize Palestianian suicide bombers. On the Islamists themselves, Zisek makes an interesting point against those who wish for a "Protestant" reformation for Islam. There already has been one. Like Protestantism, the Wahabbi sect that rules Saudi Arabia rejects the accretions and growths of Islam over the previous centuries as so much quasi-pagan superstition. Like Protestantism it emphasizes holy scripture and even offers suggestions for a more practical bible interpretation. Clearly, this is not enough. Elsewhere Zisek points out that in a way political Islam is Islamic fascism, in the sense that it seeks a capitalism without capitalism, or a capitalism with its destabilizing effects.
Elsewhere Zisek has stimulating things to say about "The Matrix" from which he extracts his title, and about the way that movie and others like "The Truman Show," reflect a nervous anxiety that "our" suburban life is something unreal. At the same time, one cannot unproblematically search for the real, a la Orwell, a certain harmony with fantasy is crucial to Lacanian good health. There are interesting comments on suicide as the expression not of certainty, but of doubt, not as sacrifice, but as evasion. His comments on "Shrek" will be of great comfort to all those who think that film over-rated: it is a movie which overturns all conventions yet at the same time only reaffirms them. Zisek cautions against the use of "proto-fascist": not all criticisms of decadence or invocations of discipline are fascist--consider the example of Schoenberg. He also notes that the private sphere is becoming a commodified space. The only way, he suggests, for true love to exist is not for the lovers to stare into each others eyes but at some sort of collectivity outside them. He is especially angry at Jonathan Alter and Alan Dershowitz for suggesting the torture of terrorists. As he quite properly points out, if torturing terrorists could save lives, then the torturing of prisoners of wars would saveeven more. Although at one point he argues that anti-Americanism is most common in countries that have lost their influence, like France and Germany, he argues that it is vitally necessary for a European response to provide an alternative to American diplomacy. On this point, I fully agree.

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Tron Honto

Psychoanalysis meets 9/11

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2002

In my opinion,Zizek is the most profound cultural analyst writing today, and this short collection of several contemplative essays on 9/11 succeeds in truly saying something new and important about the scope of the events that transpired. Zizek's writing style is famous for achieving a mixture between abstruse, Lacanian psycho-analysis and popular culture. This makes him perhaps one of the most difficult but most enjoyable reads out there in the cultural criticism market. Certainly, this stands out from the the sentimental fluff and proganda rubbish that flies off the shelves. Zizek challenges us to think outside the canard of 'fundamentalism' vs. American hegemony and capitalism.

30 people found this helpful

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German Reader

A Renaissance of Political Philosophy

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2006

I am overwhelmed by Zizek's judgment of the political situation he presents in this book. It concerns world politics after 9/11 and is still very actual. What makes this book so interesting, is that Zizek distances himself from a simplifying (left-wing) critique of American foreign politics and gives at the same time a compelling interpretation of the complexity of the "clash of cultures" that haunt still our Tv-News today.

Against a cynical attitude towards politics Zizek's defends what he calls a "political act" of truth. This is not the slogan of a new philosophical ideology but a defence of a truth that can't be "relativiced" by post-modern Philosophy. Zizek thus revives political philosophy by overcoming philosophical patterns that dominated the second half of the 20th century.

4 people found this helpful

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Pablo

A thoughtful and thought-provoking, and refreshingly original, analysis of the subject

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2009

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Zizek's analyses and observations are delightfully refreshing and thought-provoking. This is evident from the beginning of this book when he neatly quotes both Kant and Chesterton to highlight the anti-democratic potential of the principle of freedom of thought: only our minds are allowed to be free! One of his basic ideas is that global capitalism is in itself fundamentalist and so-called Islamic "fundamentalism" is actually modernist as it is an Arab response to that same global capitalism. Zizek observes that it is the clash of economic interests which underpins the so-called "clash of civilisations": for or against terrorism being a false choice. One can simultaneously both condemn the WTC attacks and appreciate the socio-political causes of such extremism, and we should have "unconditional solidarity with all victims" irrespective of where in the world they might be. Zizek posits the crucial choice as between global capitalism and its "other", which he identifies with currents like the anti-globalisation movements.
Zizek is also a good critical discourse analyst. One of many examples of this is his critique of Spielberg's "The Land Before Time" in which he points out how the hegemonic liberal multiculturalist ideology is legitimised together with its inherent injustices, inequalities and cruelties. His critique of democracy as a fetish which seeks to disavow fundamental social antagonisms is great, and his comment that "every campaign against corruption ends up being co-opted by the extreme Right" rather interesting in current times! The creation of the "homo sucker" term to refer to our contemporary practice of both ridiculing and following ruling ideology, is wonderfully both irreverent and insightful. And Zizek also offers a perceptive and insightful analysis of the Israel-Palestine conflict and its relationship to the US war on terrorism against Osama bin Laden.
The problem for many potential readers however is that Zizek presupposes a grounding in psychoanalysis, plus acquaintanceship with Lacan, on the reader's part, and also a knowledge of philosophy, Hegel in particular, but also Nietzsche and Habermas, to name but a couple. OK, much of this is justified, as when, for example, he makes interesting observations by taking psychoanalytic theories (usually) applied to individual psychic life and applying them to group behaviours. But there is nonetheless the question of whether, if Zizek's ideal is a "new collectivity", and if he plans to play a role in it, he should not make more effort to be accessible. Be this as it may, I feel that the stimulating nature of his observations and analyses reward the reader's patience in this respect.

13 people found this helpful

trovurso

Too clever for 99% of us

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2010

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I bought this while cresting a wave of socialist feeling. I ploughed my way painfully through the first half before giving up. What I understood of it I think I liked, but the problem is that it's too hard to understand! I'm not illiterate, I'm a well read graduate, but this book beat me. Probably only suited to academic political scientists who would eat this for breakfast. I wish I understood Zizek, cause from what little I got of the book he sounds like an interesting man.

4 people found this helpful

Stephen P Jepson

Zizek is brilliant. I would vote for him if he ran ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2014

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If you have the time and can grasp what this man is telling us...I found this by chance. Zizek is brilliant. I would vote for him if he ran for PM in the UK.

Amazon Customer

dry desert

Reviewed in Canada on July 27, 2018

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gibberish

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Welcome to the Desert of the Real: Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates Paperback – October 17, 2002

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