Table Of ContentTHE FRAGILE
WO ESWAR
ABSOLUTE
Aseries from Verso editedbySlavoj Zizek
or,
Wo es war, solIich werden - Where itwas, I shallcome into being- is Freud's
versionof'the Enlightenmentgoalofknowledgethatisinitselfanactof Why is the Christian legacy
liberation. Is itstillpossibletopursue this goaltoday, inthe conditions
worth fighting for?
oflate capitalism? If 'it' today is the twin rule ofpragmatic-relativist
NewSophistsandNewAgeobscurantists,what'shallcomeintobeing'
in itsplace? Thepremissofthe seriesisthattheexplosivecombination ....
"""
ofLacanianpsychoanalysisandl\t1arxisttradition detonatesa dynamic
freedom that enables us to question the very presuppositions of the
circuitofCapital.
SlAVOJ ZIZEK
Inthesameseries:
Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings. l~-='dited and introduced by
lVl.iran Bozovic
Alain Grosrichard, The Sultans Court: European Fantasies ofthe East.
Translatedby Liz Heron andintroducedbyl'vlJaden Dolar
Renata Saled, (Per}l7ersionsifLoveandflate
Slavoj Zizek, TheMefastasesifEnjoyment:SixEssayson Women andCausality
Slavoj Zizek, TheIndivisibleRemainder.AnEssayonSchellingandRelatedJlIIalters
Slavoj Zizek, ThePlagueifFantasies
Slavoj Zizek, TheTicklishSubject:TheAbsentCentreifPoliticalOntology
Alenka ZupanCic, EthicsiftheReal'Kant, Lacan
l'
Forthcoming:
Alain Badiou, Ethics:AnEssayonthe UnderstandingofEvil VERSO
London· NewYork
THE FRAGILE
WO ESWAR
ABSOLUTE
Aseries from Verso editedbySlavoj Zizek
or,
Wo es war, solIich werden - Where itwas, I shallcome into being- is Freud's
versionof'the Enlightenmentgoalofknowledgethatisinitselfanactof Why is the Christian legacy
liberation. Is itstillpossibletopursue this goaltoday, inthe conditions
worth fighting for?
oflate capitalism? If 'it' today is the twin rule ofpragmatic-relativist
NewSophistsandNewAgeobscurantists,what'shallcomeintobeing'
in itsplace? Thepremissofthe seriesisthattheexplosivecombination ....
"""
ofLacanianpsychoanalysisandl\t1arxisttradition detonatesa dynamic
freedom that enables us to question the very presuppositions of the
circuitofCapital.
SlAVOJ ZIZEK
Inthesameseries:
Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings. l~-='dited and introduced by
lVl.iran Bozovic
Alain Grosrichard, The Sultans Court: European Fantasies ofthe East.
Translatedby Liz Heron andintroducedbyl'vlJaden Dolar
Renata Saled, (Per}l7ersionsifLoveandflate
Slavoj Zizek, TheMefastasesifEnjoyment:SixEssayson Women andCausality
Slavoj Zizek, TheIndivisibleRemainder.AnEssayonSchellingandRelatedJlIIalters
Slavoj Zizek, ThePlagueifFantasies
Slavoj Zizek, TheTicklishSubject:TheAbsentCentreifPoliticalOntology
Alenka ZupanCic, EthicsiftheReal'Kant, Lacan
l'
Forthcoming:
Alain Badiou, Ethics:AnEssayonthe UnderstandingofEvil VERSO
London· NewYork
CONTENTS
Giving Up the Balkan Ghost 3
FirstpublishedbyVerso2000
©Slavoj Zizek2000 2 The Spectre of Capital 11
All rightsreserved
3 Coke as obje! petit a 21
Paperbackedition first publishedbyVerso2001 4 From tragique to moque-comtque 40
5 Victims, Victims Everywhere 54
I 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
6 The Fantasmatic Real 63
Themoral rightsoftheauthorhave beenasserted
7 \Vhy is the Truth Monstrous? 69
Verso 8 Of Stones, Lizards and Men 82
UK: 6MeaI'd Street, LondonWIFOEC
9 The Structure and its Event 92
US: 180VarickStreet, NewYork, l\ry 10014--4606
10 From the Decalogue to Human Rights 107
VersoistheimprintofNewLeft Books 11 The Principle of Charity 113
12 Christ's Uncoupling 123
ISBN 1-85984-326-3
13 'You must, because you can!' 130
BritishLihraryCataloguinginPublicationData
14 From Knowledge to Truth ... and Back 135
A catalogue recordfor thisbookisavailablefrom the British Library
15 The Breakout 143
LihraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Acatalogrecordfor thisbookisavailablefrom the LibralyofCongress
Notes 161
1yPesetbyM RulesinCochin lO.5pt
Index 177
Printedandboundinthe USAbyR.R. Donnelley& Sons Ltd
CONTENTS
Giving Up the Balkan Ghost 3
FirstpublishedbyVerso2000
©Slavoj Zizek2000 2 The Spectre of Capital 11
All rightsreserved
3 Coke as obje! petit a 21
Paperbackedition first publishedbyVerso2001 4 From tragique to moque-comtque 40
5 Victims, Victims Everywhere 54
I 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
6 The Fantasmatic Real 63
Themoral rightsoftheauthorhave beenasserted
7 \Vhy is the Truth Monstrous? 69
Verso 8 Of Stones, Lizards and Men 82
UK: 6MeaI'd Street, LondonWIFOEC
9 The Structure and its Event 92
US: 180VarickStreet, NewYork, l\ry 10014--4606
10 From the Decalogue to Human Rights 107
VersoistheimprintofNewLeft Books 11 The Principle of Charity 113
12 Christ's Uncoupling 123
ISBN 1-85984-326-3
13 'You must, because you can!' 130
BritishLihraryCataloguinginPublicationData
14 From Knowledge to Truth ... and Back 135
A catalogue recordfor thisbookisavailablefrom the British Library
15 The Breakout 143
LihraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Acatalogrecordfor thisbookisavailablefrom the LibralyofCongress
Notes 161
1yPesetbyM RulesinCochin lO.5pt
Index 177
Printedandboundinthe USAbyR.R. Donnelley& Sons Ltd
For nobody and nothing
Oneofthe most deplorable aspects ofthepostmoderneraandits
so-called 'thought' is the return ofthe religious dimension in all
its different guises: from Christian and other fundamentalisms,
through the multitude of New Age spiritualisms, up to the
emerging religious sensitivitywithin deconstructionism itself(so
called 'post-secular' thought). How is a Marxist, by definition a
'fightingmaterialist' (Lenin), to counterthismassive onslaughtof
obscurantism? The obvious answer seems to be not only fero
ciously to attack these tendencies, but mercilessly to denounce
the remainders of the religious legacy within Marxism itself.
For nobody and nothing
Oneofthe most deplorable aspects ofthepostmoderneraandits
so-called 'thought' is the return ofthe religious dimension in all
its different guises: from Christian and other fundamentalisms,
through the multitude of New Age spiritualisms, up to the
emerging religious sensitivitywithin deconstructionism itself(so
called 'post-secular' thought). How is a Marxist, by definition a
'fightingmaterialist' (Lenin), to counterthismassive onslaughtof
obscurantism? The obvious answer seems to be not only fero
ciously to attack these tendencies, but mercilessly to denounce
the remainders of the religious legacy within Marxism itself.
SLAVOJ ZIZEK
THE FRAGILE ABSOLUTE
Against the old liberal slander which draws on the parallel 1 Giving Up the Balkan Ghost
between the Christian andMarxist'Messianic' notion ofhistory
as the process ofthe final deliverance ofthe faithful (the notori Perhaps the best way ofencapsnlating the gist ofan epoch is to
ous 'Communist-parties-are-secularized-religious-sects' theme), focus not on the explicit features that define its social and ideo
should one not emphasize how this holds onlyfor ossified 'dog logical edifices but on the disavo~~(Lgh9.§!-".•lhi!Lhic'!.19!it,
matic' .M.arxism, not for its authentic liberating kernel? d~e_l~i~~_in, ~_lT1'y~~ed?,~_~,"I~gl9g,,9,Ln.Q.lJ~flfi,§t~l:)J_~~~t~!i~§ __.,~h~,c;h
__
Following AJain Badiou's path-breaking book on Saint PauI,1 n~~~:~~~~I~~it~~~!:~_;',-"~?;!i~,~,~_!9 ~:'f~rtth~ir-~f£i£q~'y~
Comingfrom
ourpremiss here is exactlythe opposite one: instead ofadopting Slovenia, part of ex-Yugoslavia, I seem to be predestined to
sucha defensive stance, allowingthe eneUIYto define the terrain speak about such ghosts today: is not one of the main cliches
ofthe struggle, what one should do is to reverse the strategy by about the Balkans that they are the part of Europe which is
0/
fully endorsing what one is accused yes, there is a direct lineage
haunted bythe notorious 'ghosts of'the past', forgetting nothing
from Christianity to Marxism; yes, Christianity and Marxism and learning nothing, still fighting centuries-old battles, while
should fight on the same side of the barricade against the
the rest ofEurope is engagedin a rapid process ofglobalization7
onslaughtofnew spiritualisms- the authentic Christianlegacyis
Here, however, we encounter the first paradoxofthe Balkans: it
much too precious to be left to the fundamentalist freaks.
seemsas ifthe Balkansthemselves had, in the eyes ofEurope, the
Even those who acknowledg'e this direct lineage from
peculiar status of' a ghost that haunts it - are not the post
Christianity to Marxism, however, usually fetishize the early
Yugoslav Balkans, this vortex of (self-)destructive ethnic
'authentic'followers ofChristagainstthe Church's 'institutional
passions, the exact opposite, almost a kind ofphotographic neg
ization' epitomized by the name of Saint Paul: yes to Christ's
ative, ofthetolerantcoexistence ofethnic communities, a kindof
'originalauthenticmessage', noto itstransformati.onintothebody
multiculturalist dream turned into a nightmare? Does not the
of teaching that legitimizes the Church as a social institution. very indeterminate and shifting geographic delimitation ofthe
What these followers of the maxim 'yes to Christ, no to Saint
Balkans indicate their spectral status7 It seems as if there is no
Paul' (who, as Nietzsche claimed, in effect invented Christianity) definitive answer to the question 'Where do the Balkans
do is strictly parallel to the stance of those 'humanist Marxists'
begin7'- the Balkansare always somewhereelse, a little bitmore
from the mid-twentieth century whose maxim was 'yes to the towards the southeast....
earlyauthenticMarx, notohis Leninistossification'. Andin both For the Serbs, they begin down there, in Kosovo or in Bosnia,
cases, oneshouldinsist thatsuch a 'defenceofthe authentic'isthe
and they defend the Christian civilization against this Europe's
most perhdIc;;:;;-ni'ode ofits betrayal: the;;;Sno'Christoutside Saint
Other; for the Croats, they begin in orthodox, despotic and
Paul; inexactlyt~;;;;;=;-;:th~1SnoaUffientiCf\!rarx"tThate1tn
Byzantine Serbia, against which Croatia safeguards Western
be approached directly, bypassing Lenin. . •
democratic values; for Slovenestheybegin in Croatia, andweare
2
3
SLAVOJ ZIZEK
THE FRAGILE ABSOLUTE
Against the old liberal slander which draws on the parallel 1 Giving Up the Balkan Ghost
between the Christian andMarxist'Messianic' notion ofhistory
as the process ofthe final deliverance ofthe faithful (the notori Perhaps the best way ofencapsnlating the gist ofan epoch is to
ous 'Communist-parties-are-secularized-religious-sects' theme), focus not on the explicit features that define its social and ideo
should one not emphasize how this holds onlyfor ossified 'dog logical edifices but on the disavo~~(Lgh9.§!-".•lhi!Lhic'!.19!it,
matic' .M.arxism, not for its authentic liberating kernel? d~e_l~i~~_in, ~_lT1'y~~ed?,~_~,"I~gl9g,,9,Ln.Q.lJ~flfi,§t~l:)J_~~~t~!i~§ __.,~h~,c;h
__
Following AJain Badiou's path-breaking book on Saint PauI,1 n~~~:~~~~I~~it~~~!:~_;',-"~?;!i~,~,~_!9 ~:'f~rtth~ir-~f£i£q~'y~
Comingfrom
ourpremiss here is exactlythe opposite one: instead ofadopting Slovenia, part of ex-Yugoslavia, I seem to be predestined to
sucha defensive stance, allowingthe eneUIYto define the terrain speak about such ghosts today: is not one of the main cliches
ofthe struggle, what one should do is to reverse the strategy by about the Balkans that they are the part of Europe which is
0/
fully endorsing what one is accused yes, there is a direct lineage
haunted bythe notorious 'ghosts of'the past', forgetting nothing
from Christianity to Marxism; yes, Christianity and Marxism and learning nothing, still fighting centuries-old battles, while
should fight on the same side of the barricade against the
the rest ofEurope is engagedin a rapid process ofglobalization7
onslaughtofnew spiritualisms- the authentic Christianlegacyis
Here, however, we encounter the first paradoxofthe Balkans: it
much too precious to be left to the fundamentalist freaks.
seemsas ifthe Balkansthemselves had, in the eyes ofEurope, the
Even those who acknowledg'e this direct lineage from
peculiar status of' a ghost that haunts it - are not the post
Christianity to Marxism, however, usually fetishize the early
Yugoslav Balkans, this vortex of (self-)destructive ethnic
'authentic'followers ofChristagainstthe Church's 'institutional
passions, the exact opposite, almost a kind ofphotographic neg
ization' epitomized by the name of Saint Paul: yes to Christ's
ative, ofthetolerantcoexistence ofethnic communities, a kindof
'originalauthenticmessage', noto itstransformati.onintothebody
multiculturalist dream turned into a nightmare? Does not the
of teaching that legitimizes the Church as a social institution. very indeterminate and shifting geographic delimitation ofthe
What these followers of the maxim 'yes to Christ, no to Saint
Balkans indicate their spectral status7 It seems as if there is no
Paul' (who, as Nietzsche claimed, in effect invented Christianity) definitive answer to the question 'Where do the Balkans
do is strictly parallel to the stance of those 'humanist Marxists'
begin7'- the Balkansare always somewhereelse, a little bitmore
from the mid-twentieth century whose maxim was 'yes to the towards the southeast....
earlyauthenticMarx, notohis Leninistossification'. Andin both For the Serbs, they begin down there, in Kosovo or in Bosnia,
cases, oneshouldinsist thatsuch a 'defenceofthe authentic'isthe
and they defend the Christian civilization against this Europe's
most perhdIc;;:;;-ni'ode ofits betrayal: the;;;Sno'Christoutside Saint
Other; for the Croats, they begin in orthodox, despotic and
Paul; inexactlyt~;;;;;=;-;:th~1SnoaUffientiCf\!rarx"tThate1tn
Byzantine Serbia, against which Croatia safeguards Western
be approached directly, bypassing Lenin. . •
democratic values; for Slovenestheybegin in Croatia, andweare
2
3
SLAVOJ ZIZEK
THE FRAGILE ABSOLUTE
the last bulwark of the peaceful Mitteleuropa; for many Italians old-fa~~ed_..!l!li\Q,,§h~clrejection of the (despotic,barbarian,
and Austrians they begin in Slovenia, the Western outpost oT ~ox,Muslim, corrupt, Oriental ...)B~lkanathe;~n behalf
the Slavic hordes; for many Germans, Austria itself: because of ~f-~~tI~~~~ti~"(W~-~-t~;'~I''''~i~ifi;-~d,--cl~~~~'~~~ti'~;---Ch;i~ti~~'.. .)
its historical links, is alreadytaintedwith Balkancorruptionand var;;,:s:itE;;;:;the~;;-i;-'-;~ff;;;<'i;;;;p~i;t;~~ffYC~;;:;;::1.t~;;i~;;';: the
inefficiency; for manyNorth Germans, Bavaria, withits Catholic l11ulti~ult;;t,;;rlst~p;;t~;;pi:l;;;:;oif:he~Balk~ausasthe terraiu ofetlinic
provincialflair, is notfree ofa Balkan contarnination;manyarro horrors'ancr~n'toTerance:';;fp~i;~iti~~'"'i;;~ti~~;:r:;;;;~~g--pa:ss-l()nsl
gant Frenchmen associate Germany itself with an Eastern t()be-()pp()sedt()-th;;p()st:;;';:t~;;;;:,,1';:t;;Iib;;;;J:J;;mo"1.';;1.i"process
Balkan brutaliWentirelyforeign to Frenchfinesse; andthis brings ors;:'I;:;1;;g;;();;fli;;t;1:l;t-;;:;gh;:-ati~;;;I;;;;g;;t;~t;~~,;::~I11proIllisea;;cl
us to the last link in this chain: to some conservative British mutuirresp~'a':'--'fle:re'racis~m"ls~--as"Tt'wei;~'" elevated'to--the--second
opponents of the European Union, for whom - implicitly, at D~--f_.lw"-'~e-"r':--"i---t"i's.----a,...-t-~t-ributed to we occupy con-
least- thewhole ofcontinental Europe functions todayas a new venient,p~~ition()f,~,Pt~~,tr:,?J1?,e:1?-,e:Y9J~;Ilt0 J::>seryqJ:"l.rig,hteously
version ofthe Balkan Turkish Empire, with Brusselsas the new
dismayedat tl:chorroIsgoing on 'down there'. Finally, there is
Istanbul, a voracious despotic centre which threatens British
the reverse racism.:which celebrates the exotic authenticiW of
freedom and sovereignty....2 Is uot this identification ofconti theB~fk~-;'~Oth;;;'as inth~ notion ofSerbs who, in contrast to
nental Europe itselfwith the Balkans, its barbarian Other, the
anaenlicWestern Europeans, stillexhibita prodigious
secrettruth ofthe entire movement ofthe displaceddelimitation It.;~tf;tiif',;=thi;f~~t a.
f()1.;;,;;;{r';;"isl11 plays crucial role in the
between the two?
success ofEmir Kusturica's fllms in the West.
This enigmatic multiple displacement of the frontier clearly
The example ofKusturica also enables us to idcnti(yanother
demonstrates that in the case ofthe Balkans we are dealing not feature oftheWesternperceptionofthe Balkans: thelogic ofdis~
with real geography but with an imaginary cartography which placed racism.3 Since the Balkans are geographically part of
projects on to the real landscape its own shadowy, often dis
Europe, populatedbywhite people, racist clicheswh_i':.l::~0!J0dy
avowed, ideological antagonisms, justas Freud claimed that the
todax!~ i;:> ()ur)'olitic"lly CorrecUim.es, WQuld d"r~ tQ "pply to
localization of the hysteric's conversion Syulptoms projecton to AfricanorAsianpeople,,-a;:>beJr".e!l'..attribllt".?t() B,J~"n people:
the physical body the map of another, imaginary anatomy. p()Eti~:'T;t~~ii!~s~nt.h"I3"I~ans
are compared to ridiculous
However, itis notonly thatthe BalkansserveasEuropesghost, the O~~I:~!~~~'.P~()!.~,~.rCeaUf~escu th~'c~'nt~-~p~~ary
was presented as
persistent remainder of its own disavowed past; the further reincarnation of Count ,Dracula.... Furthermore, it is as if,
perhaps even more important - point to be made is that pre withinthe Balkanareaitself, Sloveniais mostexposedtothis dis
ciselyinso far as 'the Balkans'function as suchaspectralentity,
placedracisnl, since it is closesttoWestern Europe: when, in an
reference to them enables us to discern, in a kind of spectral interview abont his film Underground, Kustnrica dismissed the
analysis, the different modes oftoday's racism. First, there is the
Slovenesas anation ofAustriangrooms, nobodyeven reactedto
"-"'---'-~
4
5
