Slavoj Žižek, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

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

Dates

First circulation or publication 2009

Places

Slovenia (Country of Origin)
United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Commentary / criticism

Resources

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In his introduction to

First as Tragedy, then as Farce

(2009), Žižek refers to the beginning of Marx’s

Eighteenth Brumaire

, where Marx astutely observes that “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great events and characters of world history occur, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce” (146).

The tragedy referred to in Žižek’s title is September 11, 2001; the farce is the financial meltdown of 2008. The ideological fantasy of a liberal-democratic, global capitalist utopia died its first (tragic) death on September 11, 2001; then it died its second (farcical) death with the financial meltdown of 2008. In numerous works, Žižek argues that we already know that this liberal-democratic, capitalist ideological fantasy is dead. The

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2496 words

Citation: Wood, Kelsey. "First As Tragedy, Then As Farce". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 February 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34888, accessed 21 November 2024.]