{"product_id":"9781350537842-zero-point","title":"Zero Point","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis second book in \u003ci\u003eŽižek’s Essays \u003c\/i\u003esees Slavoj Žižek utilise Lenin's 'zero point' formula as model for responding to the antagonisms of the global order.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe essays in \u003ci\u003eZero Point\u003c\/i\u003e 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\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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 Žižek'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 – Žižek argues nothing can be addressed meaningfully without such a confrontation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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 \u003ci\u003eZero Point. \u003c\/i\u003eIn a unique piece assembled chronologically from unpublished writings, Žižek wrestles with the fallout from his controversial speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2023 - a speech which saw him interrupted,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\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41822952783969,"sku":"9781350537842","price":9.51,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_34163408.jpg?v=1746755237","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781350537842-zero-point","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}