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.
Slavoj Zizek is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Philosophy, University of
Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Codirector of the Center for Humanities, Birkbeck College,
University of London.
Reviews
"In this huge, thrilling book, Slavoj Zizek enacts a dazzling display of philosophy
as performance art, delighting in upsetting readers' expectations, inserting sly jokes,
and castigating the 'boring' political analyses of just about everyone.... Zizek is a
thinker who regards nothing as outside his field: the result is deeply interesting and
provocative." The Guardian
"Zizek is one of the few living writers to combine theoretical rigor with compulsive
readability, and his new volume provides perhaps the clearest elaboration of his
theoretical framework thus far....This challenging book takes us on a roller-coaster ride
whose every loop is a Möbius strip." Publishers Weekly
"Frankly, a magnum opus is exactly what Zizek needs right now.... The Parallax View
consolidates Zizek's work as a whole and decisively moves it forward." In These
Times
Hardcover
528 pages
