The life and work of Leni Riefenstahl, who died on Monday at age 101, seems to lend itself to a mapping of a devolution, progressing toward a dark conclusion. It began with the early “mountain films” of the 1920s that she starred in and later began directing as well, which celebrated heroism and bodily effort… Continue reading Learning to Love Leni Riefenstahl
Tag: ideology
From Western Marxism to Western Buddhism
The ultimate postmodern irony of today is the strange exchange between Europe and Asia: at the very moment when “European” technology and capitalism are triumphing worldwide at the level of the “economic infrastructure, the Judeo-Christian legacy is threatened at the level of “ideological superstructure” in the European space itself by New Age “Asiatic” thought, which,… Continue reading From Western Marxism to Western Buddhism
Why We All Love to Hate Haider
[New Left Review 2, March-April 2000 – pdf] Abstract: What is the significance of the EU’s boycott of the new Austrian government? Beyond the Tartuffery of official reactions to Haider in the West, Slavoj Zizek dissects the political function of the new rectitudes of the Third Way. The entry of Jörg Haider’s Freedom Party into a coalition… Continue reading Why We All Love to Hate Haider
From Joyce-the-Symptom to the Symptom of Power
What does Lacan’s thesis on “Joyce-the-symptom” aim at? Joyce’s famous statement that he wrote [amazon asin=0141181265&text=Finnegans Wake] in order to keep literary historians busy for the next 400 years has to be read against the background of Lacan’s assertion that, within a psychoanalytic cure, a symptom is always addressed at the analyst and as such… Continue reading From Joyce-the-Symptom to the Symptom of Power
Connections of the Freudian Field to Philosophy and Popular Culture
I would like to begin with an almost narcissistic reflection. Why do I resort so often to examples from popular culture? The simple answer is in order to avoid a kind of jargon, and to achieve the greatest possible clarity, not only for my readers but also for myself. That is to say, the idiot… Continue reading Connections of the Freudian Field to Philosophy and Popular Culture
Eastern Europe’s Republics of Gilead
[Extract. Appeared in New Left Review I/183, September-October 1990] Why is the West so fascinated by the recent events in Eastern Europe? The answer seems obvious: what fascinates the Western gaze is the re-invention of democracy.It is as if democracy, which in the West shows increasing signs of decay and crisis, lost in bureaucratic routine… Continue reading Eastern Europe’s Republics of Gilead
