Slavoj Žižek, The Plague of Fantasies

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If we subtract fantasy from reality, then reality itself loses its consistency and disintegrates. To choose between “either accepting reality or choosing fantasy” is wrong: if we really want to change or escape our social reality, the first thing to do is change our fantasies that make us fit this reality. (Slavoj Žižek)

One of Žižek’s most sustained engagements with Lacanian psychoanalytic theory is The Plague of Fantasies (1997). In Plague, Žižek analyzes the flood of pseudo-concrete images that bombard contemporary subjects. By analyzing postmodern culture in light of Lacanian concepts like fantasy, the unconscious, the Name of the Father, symbolic castration, objet petit a, desire, gaze, fetishism, and the Real of jouissance, Žižek formulates an incisive critique of

2670 words

Citation: Wood, Kelsey. "The Plague of Fantasies". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 May 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23504, accessed 19 March 2024.]

23504 The Plague of Fantasies 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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