Slavoj Žižek, Enjoy Your Symptom! Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and out (Revised Edition)

Kelsey Wood (University of Arkansas at Little Rock)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
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

Cultural Studies
Psychoanalysis

Dates

First circulation or publication 2001

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Commentary / criticism

Resources

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Hailed as the most significant thinker of our age, Slavoj Žižek develops the philosophical implications of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory in order to articulate a new vision of human nature and culture. One of Žižek's most intriguing books is

Enjoy Your Symptom! Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and out

(1992).

In Enjoy Your Symptom! (abbreviated EYS below) Žižek uses examples from popular culture in order to improvise on five fundamental Lacanian motifs: letter, woman, repetition, phallus, and father. In EYS, Žižek does not offer psychoanalytic interpretations of the films and books he discusses; instead, he discusses familiar examples from popular culture to elucidate psychoanalysis. Žižek does not simply define Lacanian concepts, but applies them: he uses letter, woman, repetition,

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2698 words

Citation: Wood, Kelsey. "Enjoy Your Symptom! Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and out (Revised Edition)". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23498, accessed 23 November 2024.]