Surplus-enjoyment: A Guide for the Non-perplexed

i ek, Slavoj

ISBN 10: 1350226254 / ISBN 13: 9781350226258

Published by Bloomsbury USA Academic, 2022

About this Item

384 pages. 7.79x5.08x1.00 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # xr1350226254

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Surplus-enjoyment: A Guide for the Non-perplexed
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Academic
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350226254
• ISBN 13: 9781350226258
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New

About this title

Synopsis

Contemporary life is defined by excess. There must always be more, there is never enough. We need a surplus to what we need to be able to truly enjoy what we have. Slavoj Žižek's guide to surplus (and why it's enjoyable) begins by arguing that what is surplus to our needs is by its very nature unsubstantial and unnecessary. But, perversely, without this surplus, we wouldn't be able to enjoy what is substantial and necessary. Indeed, without the surplus we wouldn't be able to identify what was the perfect amount.

Is there any escape from the vicious cycle of surplus enjoyment or are we forever doomed to simply want more? Engaging with everything from The Joker film to pop songs and Thomas Aquinas to the history of pandemics, Žižek argues that recognising the society of enjoyment we live in for what it is can provide an explanation for the political impasses in which we find ourselves today. And if we begin, even a little bit, to recognise that the nuggets of 'enjoyment' we find in excess are as flimsy and futile, might we find a way out?

About the Author

Slavoj Žižek is a Hegelian philosopher, a Lacanian psychoanalyst, and a Communist. He is International Director at the Birkbeck Institute for Humanities, University of London, UK, Visiting Professor at the New York University, USA, and Senior Researcher at the Department of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.