Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Slavoj Zizek: Less than nothing

Just started to read Slavoj Zizeks' book Less Than Nothing (2012). A book about Hegel and dialectical materialism and consists of 1000 pages. Who is this Slavoj Zizek? The coverpage says that he "was born, writes books, and will die". That didn't help much. My first question as I read the title is if it is possible to be a Hegelian today? I see that Zizek has offered a whole chapter for this question. Zizek not only believes we should not only return to Hegel and read his works, but "repeat and exceed his triumphs, overcoming his limitations by being even more Hegelian than the master himself" (coverpage). I must say that I have a major emotional and ideological resistance when I open this hugh book. Maybe it will give me an intellectual struggle more than I can take? I open the book, put my nose between page 594 and 595 and smell the pages. The book smells good. That's a good start. I love the smell of new books. OK, now I can start reading. I'm ready Zizek. Ready for "less than nothing".
 Kaare T. Pettersen
Reference:
Zizek, Slavoj (2012). Less Than Nothing. Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. London: Verso.

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