Philosophy

Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide For The Non-Perplexed

Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide For The Non-Perplexed

  • Downloads：5061
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2022-09-05 09:53:10
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Slavoj Žižek
  • ISBN：1350226254
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Summary

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？

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Reviews

Alex Johnson ，

More like 3 1/2 stars。 Read enough Zizek （which I probably haven't） and you could probably predict his next book since certain parts of this book are pretty much repetitions of things he has said in previous works。 The first part of the book is a bit of a drudge if you aren't a Marx fanatic （I am not）， but Zizek has the occasionally sharp insight about climate change。 Next， we get a lot of the repetitious parts about Freud and Lacan as well as more recent insights into gender ideology and PC cul More like 3 1/2 stars。 Read enough Zizek （which I probably haven't） and you could probably predict his next book since certain parts of this book are pretty much repetitions of things he has said in previous works。 The first part of the book is a bit of a drudge if you aren't a Marx fanatic （I am not）， but Zizek has the occasionally sharp insight about climate change。 Next， we get a lot of the repetitious parts about Freud and Lacan as well as more recent insights into gender ideology and PC culture。 Pretty interesting for someone who has only read Sublime Object， but I imagine the Zizek obsessive has heard all these things before。 The best part of the book was definitely the last third （excluding the bits about Covid， which， for someone so opposed to ideology， seemed very ideological）。 The last third gets deep into the concept of surplus-enjoyment and how it informs our actions。 All in all， this seems like pretty standard Zizek。 Nothing earth-shattering， a bit unnecessary， but for someone who still hasn't read a lot of foundational psychoanalytic texts， I enjoyed it （though I guess Zizek would say that what I really enjoyed is the fact that I enjoyed it， but I digress）。 。。。more

Simon Gros ，

Worst thing to happen to Hegel since the birth of Jesus。On a more serious note， there is one minor detail about this work I simply don't understand， and it's the following:Žižek here directly equates Lacan's notion of the objet a with what he calls surplus-enjoyment。Don't the two concepts work at entirely different levels？ While he makes the usual distinction between enjoyment and pleasure， and then mediates those in a second， Hegelian step， the object petit a and whatever excessive or surplus e Worst thing to happen to Hegel since the birth of Jesus。On a more serious note， there is one minor detail about this work I simply don't understand， and it's the following:Žižek here directly equates Lacan's notion of the objet a with what he calls surplus-enjoyment。Don't the two concepts work at entirely different levels？ While he makes the usual distinction between enjoyment and pleasure， and then mediates those in a second， Hegelian step， the object petit a and whatever excessive or surplus enjoyment， as developed in this book， shouldn't simply be equated， that reads as an obscuration of the entire issue for me。There is desire and its object （or its cause） and then there is the enjoyment gained in the path of its maintainance。 While I agree with Žižek's key insight here that enjoyment is always excessive， so surplus and enjoyment can be equated in this way， the object of desire itself is fundamentally at a different level as the derivation of enjoyment。The two are connected and related， but not in this equating direct way。 While enjoyment is something that can be set in different libidinal schemes， Freud for example at a certain point framed it as directly a hydraulic system， the object itself is the paradoxical element in the machine which， instead of stopping it like a malfunctioning cog in mechanical terms， precisely keeps its going。In capitalism， the subject-object of capitalism is Capital itself， unless it crashes （and then we call it crisis， recession， depression， stagnation， regression， etc。） which tries to reproduce itself ad infinitum， but the enjoyment derived is the perverse side-effect of the entire movement。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide For The Non-Perplexed

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide For The Non-Perplexed&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide For The Non-Perplexed&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0