First as tragedy, then as farce, paperback/slavoj zizek

The leading philosopher of our time tackles the demise of liberalism, from the tragedy of 9/11 to the farce of the financial meltdown.

Billions of dollars were hastily poured into the global banking system in a frantic attempt at financial stabilization.

So why has it not been possible to bring the same forces to bear in addressing world poverty and environmental crisis? In this take-no-prisoners analysis, Slavoj Zizek frames the moral failures of the modern world in terms of the epoch-making events of the first decade of this century.

What he finds is the old one-two punch of history: the jab of tragedy, the right hook of farce.

In the attacks of 9/11 and the global credit crunch, liberalism dies twice: as a political doctrine and as an economic theory.

The election of Donald Trump only confirms the bankruptcy of a liberal order on its last legs.

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce is a call for the Left to reinvent itself in the light of our desperate historical situation.

The time for liberal, moralistic blackmail is over.

About the Author: Slavoj Zizek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic.

He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

His books include L iving in the End Times, Less Than Nothing, In Defense of Lost Causes, four volumes of the Essential Zizek , and many more.