The Parallax View

The Parallax View is Slavoj Zizek's most substantial theoretical work to appear in many years; Zizek himself describes it as his magnum opus. Parallax can be defined as the apparent displacement of an object, caused by a change in observational position. Zizek is interested in the "parallax gap" separating two points between which no synthesis or mediation is possible, linked b...

The Parallax View is Slavoj Zizek's most substantial theoretical work to appear in many years; Zizek himself describes it as his magnum opus. Parallax can be defined as the apparent displacement of an object, caused by a change in observational position. Zizek is interested in the "parallax gap" separating two points between which no synthesis or mediation is possible, linked by an "impossible short circuit" of levels that can never meet. From this consideration of parallax, Zizek begins a rehabilitation of dialectical materialism.Modes of parallax can be seen in different domains of today's theory, from the wave-particle duality in quantum physics to the parallax of the unconscious in Freudian psychoanalysis between interpretations of the formation of the unconscious and theories of drives. In The Parallax View, Zizek, with his usual astonishing erudition, focuses on three main modes of parallax: the ontological difference, the ultimate parallax that conditions our very access to reality; the scientific parallax, the irreducible gap between the phenomenal experience of reality and its scientific explanation, which reaches its apogee in today's brain sciences (according to which "nobody is home" in the skull, just stacks of brain meat--a condition Zizek calls "the unbearable lightness of being no one"); and the political parallax, the social antagonism that allows for no common ground. Between his discussions of these three modes, Zizek offers interludes that deal with more specific topics--including an ethical act in a novel by Henry James and anti-anti-Semitism.The Parallax View not only expands Zizek's Lacanian-Hegelian approach to new domains (notably cognitive brain sciences) but also provides the systematic exposition of the conceptual framework that underlies his entire work. Philosophical and theological analysis, detailed readings of literature, cinema, and music coexist with lively anecdotes and obscene jokes.

斯拉沃热·齐泽克，斯洛文尼亚卢布尔雅那大学社会学研究所资深研究员，欧美众多大学客座教授，大名鼎鼎的欧陆哲学家，魅力四射的演说家，光彩夺目的文化理论家，人称“文化理论界的猫王”、“屹立于人类智力顶峰”的“卢布尔雅那巨人”，“几十年来强大无比的杰出阐释者”，自称“一定意义上 的共产主义者”和“激进左翼分子”。他深受黑格尔主义、马克思主义和拉康精神分析理论的影响，擅长以通俗文化产品解读拉康的精神分析理论，并以拉康精神分析理论、黑格尔哲学和马克思主义政治经济学解析最新的社会文化现象。他“把一切纳入自己的研究领域”，颇有“席卷天下，包举宇内”之势，同时“把理论的严密性与阅读的强制性融为一炉”，“是反直觉观察的大师”。