Speaker: Slavoj Žižek, International Director, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities
Free entry; booking required
Masterclass 1: From Pleasure-in-Pain To Surplus-Enjoyment
Date: 18 April 2016, 2-4pm
Book here.
Masterclass 2: Is Surplus-Value Marx’s Name For Surplus-Enjoyment?
Date: 19 April 2016, 2-4pm
Book here.
Jacques Lacan located the origin of his key notion of plus-de-jouir (surplus-enjoyment) in Marx’s notion of surplus-value, and it is worth exploring in detail the homology of the two notions, adding a third one, that of surplus-knowledge, a pseudo-knowledge in the guise of which our ignorance appears (“supreme” knowledge of God and other hidden forces, conspiracy theories, etc.). Such an analysis is crucial for resuscitating Marx’s critique of political economy, as well as for properly understanding today’s global capitalism and its ideological effects, up to fundamentalist violence.
Recommended reading:
Slavoj Žižek, Against The Double Blackmail (Penguin Books 2016)
Samo Tomšič, The Capitalist Unconscious (Verso Books 2015)
Room B01 Clore Management Building - Birkbeck, University of London Torrington Square, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom
