Re: affect (lit refs)

Arne Raeithel (raeithel who-is-at informatik.uni-hamburg.de)
Thu, 9 May 1996 17:16:53 +0200

There is a very fascinating book by a professor from the University
of Ljubljana, Slavoj Zizek (whose reversed circumflexes on the z-letters
I cannot even produce on my Macintosh) which now lies around unread
on my shelves for exactly two years. It is called "The Sublime Object
of Ideology", published by Verso (London/New York), ISBN 0-86091-971-4
for the paperback. Preface by Ernesto Laclau. 240 pages, some graphs.

Here is an abridged quote from the Contents section:

Part I The Symptom

1 How Did Marx Invent the Symptom?
2 From Symptom to *Sinthome*

Part II Lack in the Other

3 'Che Vuoi?'
IDENTITY:-- the ideological 'quilt' -- descriptivism versus
antidescriptivism -- the two myths -- rigid designator and
*objet a* -- the ideological anamorphosis
IDENTIFICATION (lower level of the graph of desire):-- retro-
activity of meaning -- the 'effect of retroversion' -- image
and gaze -- from *i(o)* to I(O)
BEYOND IDENTIFICATION (upper level of the graph of desire):--
*'Che Vuoi?'* -- the Jew and Antigone -- fantasy as a screen
for the desire of the other -- the inconsistent other of
*juissance* -- 'going through' the social fantasy

4 You Only Die Twice

Part III The Subject

5 Which Subject of the Real?
6 'Not Only as *Substance*, but Also as *Subject*'

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Fascinating, eh ??

And, because Zizek evidently uses Lacan, and many French colleagues
know their psychoanalysis, and how to expand the original focus on
the individual: How about looking into the bibliography of the two
books that MCA author Sherry Turkle has written ? She has read all
the important stuff from France, I'm sure.

Arne.

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At 23:51 8.5.1996, Jay Lemke wrote:
>Thanks for all the leads on affect theory. In the psychoanalytic
>tradition, in addition to anxiety/fear and shame/guilt, how about
>anger/hate/love? surprise? the shock of recognition? euphoria?
>depression? ... what kind of basis for a taxonomy, or a topology,
>of affect could we have? what kinds of affects are 'nearer' to
>one another? JAY.