Slavoj Žižek, The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity

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

Critical Theory
Psychoanalysis

Dates

First circulation or publication 2002

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Commentary / criticism

Resources

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After

The Fragile Absolute

(2000) and

On Belief

(2001), Slavoj Žižek’s third intervention in Christian belief is

The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity

(2003). The title involves a reversal of Walter Benjamin’s first thesis on the philosophy of history. Referring to the story of an allegedly automatic chess machine (actually operated by a hidden dwarf pulling the strings), Benjamin wrote: “The puppet called ‘historical materialism’ is to win all the time. It can easily be a match for anyone if it enlists the services of theology, which today, as we know, is wizened and has to keep out of sight” (p. 253).

Today, our postmodern fear of directly assuming belief entails that we cynically distance ourselves from it, all the while relying on the fantasy of some

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2559 words

Citation: Wood, Kelsey. "The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 March 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23497, accessed 23 November 2024.]