Routledge Slavoj Žižek: A Little Piece of the Real (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy)

Slavoj Zizek has emerged as the pre-eminent European cultural theorist of the last decade and has been described as the ultimate Marxist/Lacanian cultural studies scholar. His large and growing body of work has generated considerable controversy, yet his texts are not structured as standard academic tomes. In Slavoj Zizek: A Little Piece of the Real, Matthew Sharpe undertakes the difficult task of drawing out an evolving argument from all of Zizek's texts from 1989 to 2001, and reads them as the bearers of a single theoretical project, providing an authoritative, reliable, clearly written and well-structured account of Zizek's demanding body of work. From an exposition of Zizek's social and philosophical critical theory the book moves to a critical analysis of Zizek's theoretical project and its political implications. Sharpe concludes by suggesting that Zizek's work, however, raises as many questions as it answers; questions both about Zizek's theoretical system and to the wider new Left in today's world. Review 'Matthew Sharpe's analysis of Zizek is not another introduction. To the contrary: it is a sustained critical engagement that places Zizek 's heterogeneous texts under the microscope of an immanent critique that is informed by an understanding of Western Marxism and German idealism.' Colloquy About the Author Matthew Sharpe, Deakin University, Australia