Heiko Feldner

Fabio Vighi

This volume reassesses the nature of the current global economic crisis and its implication for the 21st century, through the unique lens of Marx's theory of the value-form as the unconscious matrix of modern society. Going beyond orthodox Marxist and postmodernist accounts, the author offers fresh new readings of Marx, Benjamin, Foucault, and Žižek. Here he argues that capitalism has not only entered its greatest crisis since WWII, but has in fact reached its historical limit and is in terminal decline. In this light, the book seeks to answer how a rerun of Keynesian regulations could possibly resolve the crisis. It also inquires as to whether a Green New Deal might succeed when the gap between work to be had and work to be done widens, and what alternatives neo-Marxian approaches offer considering the failure of Marxism in the 20th century. This far-reaching, critical examination of the crisis not only builds on critical theory, but also offers new readings of key theorists that will appeal to anyone interested in political theory, critical theory, and political economy.

Critical Theory and the Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism

The present collection of essays brings into dialogue Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945–1982) by comparing their cultural and intellectual legacy. Pasolini and Fassbinder are amongst the last radical filmmakers to have emerged in Europe. Born in Italy and Germany, they inherited a traumatic social and political past which is reflected in their works through a number of similarly articulated and unresolved tensions: high and popular cultures, theatre, literature and cinema, ideology and narration, major and minor codes of expression. The essays in this book examine the uncompromising character of Pasolini’s and Fassbinder’s films. Constantly oscillating between utopia and nihilism, these works invite us to reconsider subjective and collective questions which from today’s perspective seem lost forever.

Between Utopia and Nihilism

Pasolini, Fassbinder and Europe

On iek's Dialectics explores the theoretical and practical potential of the psychoanalytic method deployed by Slavoj iek by investigating its epistemological implications within our contemporary capitalist universe. The book begins by evaluating Zizek's account of the capitalist ideology of enjoyment through the analysis of Lacan's critique of Marx's surplus-value. If the originality of iek's wager lies in the claim that enjoyment secretly sustains our ideological space, can we think of surplus- jouissance in a way that not only unmasks the ruse of capitalism but also adumbrates the cons.

Surplus, Subtraction, Sublimation

On Žižek's Dialectics

On Žižek's Dialectics explores the theoretical and practical potential of the psychoanalytic method deployed by Slavoj Žižek by investigating its epistemological implications within our contemporary capitalist universe. The book begins by evaluating Zizek's account of the capitalist ideology of enjoyment through the analysis of Lacan's critique of Marx's surplus-value. If the originality of Žižek's wager lies in the claim that enjoyment secretly sustains our ideological space, can we think of surplus-jouissance in a way that not only unmasks the ruse of capitalism but also adumbrates the construction of an alternative social space? The answer to this question is developed in the second part of the book. Arguing that the transformative potential of Zizek's epistemology needs to be fully unravelled if it is to avoid the risk of congealing into mere academic exercise, Fabio Vighi attempts to politicise Žižek's groundbreaking critical method by calling upon the necessity to translate its emphasis on the "indigestible" surplus of knowledge into the drive to think the new. Under the current conditions, this creative moment can no longer be delayed.

On Zizek's Dialectics

An examination of Žižek's groundbreaking psychoanalytic methodology and its implications within our contemporary capitalist universe.>

Alexis Nuselovici

Mauro Ponzi

The term “threshold” captures the overlapping of inside and outside—well beyond the logic of inclusion and exclusion that still prevails in Western civilization—that can be decisive for the way we understand the relationship between Self and Other. This book discusses the cultural and social “border areas” of modernity, which are to be understood not so much as “zones” in a territorial sense, but rather as “spaces in between,” where different languages and cultures operate.

Threshold Experiences

Between Urban Topographies and Political Spaces

Bringing together film & psychoanalysis, this book excavates the repressed knowledge that lurks in the subconscious structure of the film narrative. It explores the relationship between filmmaking & its subliminal underside by locating & reading elusive traces of the subconscious.

Locating the Cinematic Unconscious

Traumatic Encounters in Italian Film

Did Somebody Say Ideology? explores the philosophical, political, and psychoanalytic foundations of Slavoj Aiek's work, almost two decades after his arrival on the international scene of contemporary philosophy with The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989). The book generally focuses on the understanding and applicability of Aiek's theory of ideology, arguably the distinguishing and most original feature in his oeuvre so far. The first part contains six essays that carry out specific investigations into key aspects of the Slovenian philosopher's work; the second part practices Aiek's own injunction about Lacan (discover Lacanian themes everywhere!) on Aiek himself, employing his theories in different contexts and relating them to other thinkers. Each study in the present volume testifies to the extraordinary vitality of Aiek's writing, demonstrating how his psychoanalytic brand of ideology critique fosters innovative research in a variety of intellectual fields and academic disciplines.

On Slavoj Ziz̆ek and Consequences

Did Somebody Say Ideology?

This Critical Theory and Contemporary Society volume analyzes how cinema can help critical theory repoliticize culture and society. >

Rethinking Ideology Through Film Noir

Critical Theory and Film

States of Crisis and Post-Capitalist Scenarios engages with the crisis of our capitalist world, with a view to explaining its origins, unravelling its symptoms, and demystifying the anodyne corrective solutions so far proposed. At the same time, it endorses the necessity for utopian interventions aimed at drastically rethinking our social order. Organised around the themes of economy and politics, critical theory, and culture in order to offer an impressive range of thematic perspectives and critical angles, the book delves into the most pressing of today’s quandaries by combining stringent critical analysis with creative foresight. A rigorous examination of the current crisis of late-capitalist society, States of Crisis and Post-Capitalist Scenarios develops paradigms that promise to rekindle the desire to move beyond capitalism towards a different social order. As such, it will appeal to scholars and students across the humanities and social sciences with particular interests in social and political theory, contemporary philosophy and the crises faced by the current capitalist order.

Fabio Vighi

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