Slavoj Žižek, Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism? Five Interventions in the (Mis)use of a Notion

Kelsey Wood (University of Arkansas at Little Rock)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Domains

Critical Theory
Political Theory

Dates

First circulation or publication 2001

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Commentary / criticism

Resources

One of Slavoj Žižek’s most spirited and controversial books is Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism? Five Interventions in the (Mis)use of a Notion (2001). This book (abbreviated Totalitarianism below) is a witty and pointed attack on contemporary political attitudes, especially in “today’s self-professed ‘radical’ academia” (p. 1). Žižek’s Introduction introduces the thesis of the book, namely that the notion of totalitarianism today functions as a kind of “ideological antioxidant”, the purpose of which is to tame free radicals, prevent thinking, and thereby sustain the illusion of concord in late capitalist society. But the sting of Totalitarianism is that Žižek directs his fire, not so much against right-wing conservatives, as against the postmodern Left, more specifically, against pseudo-Leftist, postmodernist academics.

Žižek indicates how our alleged academic freedom is, in fact, constrained by numerous unwritten prohibitions. These unwritten...

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2621 words

Citation: Wood, Kelsey. "Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism? Five Interventions in the (Mis)use of a Notion". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 July 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23501, accessed 09 June 2026.]