In this book, Sean Homer addresses Slavoj Zizek's work in a specific political conjuncture, his political interventions in the Balkans. The charge of inconsistency and contradiction is frequently levelled at Zizek's politics, a charge he openly embraces in the name of "pragmatism." Homer argues that his interventions in the Balkans expose the dangers of this pragmatism for the renewal of the Leftist politics that he calls for. The book assesses Zizek's political interventions in so far as they advance his self-proclaimed "ruthlessly radical" aims about changing the world. Homer argues the Balkans can be seen as Zizek's symptom, that element which does not fit into the system, but speaks its truth and reveals what the system cannot acknowledge about itself.

In Part II Homer explores Zizek's radicalism through his critique of Alain Badiou, arguing that Badiou's "affirmationism" provides a firmer grounding for the renewal of the left than Zizek's negative gesture analyzed in Part I. What distinguishes Zizek from the majority of the contemporary Left today is his valorization of violence; Homer tackles this issue head-on in relation to political violence in Greece. Finally, Homer defends the utopian impulse on the radical left against its Lacanian critics.

About the Author

Sean Homer is Professor of Film and Literature at the American University in Bulgaria.

Reviews

'Critical framing of Zizek's work in his Balkan and Yugoslav context, as his repressed "maternal space," in order to test overall validity of his so-called radical political praxis is what distinguishes Homer's book from all other books on Zizek.' - Dusan I. Bjelic author of Normalizing the Balkans. Geopolitics of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry (2011)

'Sean Homer shows the political value of a strict and profoundly antagonistic reading of Slavoj Zizek's work, a reading that does not shy from a necessary degree of interpretative violence to open up fissures in a body of work that pretends to be a system. With the context as the Balkans and crucial conceptual leverage provided by Alain Badiou, this radical scholarly book elaborates a distinctive argument in which violence is pitted against violence. Here we have a body of work as symptom laid bare, and through the course of the reading the reader can come to see more clearly how that symptom consists of a series of contradictions, speaks of a problem that it is not yet conscious of. Homer makes this symptom speak.' - Ian Parker, Psychoanalyst, Manchester, Professor of Management, University of Leicester, UK.

'Critical framing of Zizek's work in his Balkan and Yugoslav context, as his repressed "maternal space," in order to test overall validity of his so-called radical political praxis is what distinguishes Homer's book from all other books on Zizek.' - Dusan I. Bjelic author of Normalizing the Balkans. Geopolitics of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry (2011)

'Sean Homer shows the political value of a strict and profoundly antagonistic reading of Slavoj Zizek's work, a reading that does not shy from a necessary degree of interpretative violence to open up fissures in a body of work that pretends to be a system. With the context as the Balkans and crucial conceptual leverage provided by Alain Badiou, this radical scholarly book elaborates a distinctive argument in which violence is pitted against violence. Here we have a body of work as symptom laid bare, and through the course of the reading the reader can come to see more clearly how that symptom consists of a series of contradictions, speaks of a problem that it is not yet conscious of. Homer makes this symptom speak.' - Ian Parker, Psychoanalyst, Manchester, Professor of Management, University of Leicester, UK.

Book Information
ISBN 9781138643581
Author Sean Homer
Format Paperback
Page Count 114
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 181g