{"product_id":"zero-point-slavoj-zizek-birkbeck-institute-for-humanities-university-of-london-uk-9781350537842","title":"Zero Point","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe essays in Zero Point ask how we distinguish defeat from disaster, and how we confront despair without collapsing into it - questions never more pertinent than the current moment in the wake of electoral victories for authoritarian populists and unceasing news of violent atrocities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e The 'zero-point' of the title is ground level, rock bottom, the place to which one retreats and where one regroups. Taken from Vladimir Lenin's 1922 piece 'On Ascending a High Mountain, in which Lenin considers the complexities of how one 'retreats' while keeping faith in the cause, the central simile of the climber offers a blueprint for resilience, flexibility, and the persistence of hope. This is the revolutionary as living out the Beckettian motto: 'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' In Zizek's hands, this becomes the formula for confronting the antagonisms of existing world order. With a particular focus on the Middle East -the point at which all our tensions threaten to explode - Zizek argues nothing can be addressed meaningfully without such a confrontation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe consequences of eschewing apolitical acts of solidarity and choosing to attempt to speak truth to power are reckoned with in the second half of Zero Point. In a unique piece assembled chronologically from unpublished writings, Zizek wrestles with the fallout from his controversial speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2023 - a speech which saw him interrupted, condemned and accused of anti-Semitism. The reader bears witness as Zizek processes the criticism, evolves his thinking and explores the full ethical, political and personal ramifications of the question: When is the right time to speak?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Slavoj Zizek (Birkbeck Institute for Humanities, University of London, UK)","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":47274806214899,"sku":"9781350537842","price":19.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/9781350537842.jpg?v=1751486750","url":"https:\/\/www.harryhartog.com.au\/products\/zero-point-slavoj-zizek-birkbeck-institute-for-humanities-university-of-london-uk-9781350537842","provider":"Harry Hartog Bookseller","version":"1.0","type":"link"}