Slavoj Zizek Wins Praise for “Fast-Forward” Philosophy

Shed no tears for Mr. Zizek, an up-and-coming theorist who was dubbed in a Village Voice book review “a fast-forward philosopher of culture for the post-cold war period.”

Hailing from Slovenia, he is a favorite on the international lecture circuit, a trendy resource for graduate students in literature, and the author of several books that are selling well. This year he is a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota. He also has a gift for zippy titles. The latest is Enjoy Your Symptom! Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and Out, new from Routledge.

Mr. Zizek’s books use Alfred Hitchcock films, detective thrillers, and popular romances to illustrate the basic concepts of the complex French psychoanalyst. “When Zizek revisits Lacan, it’s not in the manner of a disciple paying respects to a sage; it’s more like Abbott and Costello dropping by the oracle at Delphi,” the book reviewer, Edward Ball, wrote in the Voice in April. “A thinker with a greater love for jokes has not walked the halls of academe.”