ENGL7037 · English

Zizek

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

This graduate course will focus on major works of Slavoj Zizek, from Looking Awry (in which he offers a very useful way of distinguishing between modernism and postmodernism, through their relation to the Real) to his most recent book Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist (in which he concentrates on the meaning of Christ on the cross, sacrifice, Buddhism, quantum mechanics, Antigone, Ukraine, true dialectical materialism, etc.). We will also take up The Sublime Object of Ideology, Sex and the Failed Absolute, along with at least excerpts from many other works. Given that Zizek considers himself a Marxist Hegelian as well as a Lacanian, we will also study works that will help us understand his philosophical/psychoanalytic bases. There is no need for students to have prior knowledge of such material. The course will be a solid introduction to Lacanian theory read awry through the lens of Zizek, who has evolved into a psychoanalytic theorist and philosopher in his own right; he has brought psychoanalysis into the socio-political realm as well as famously shown how to read film and popular culture psychoanalytically.