The ‘most dangerous philosopher in the West’ returns with a rousing and counterintuitive analysis of our global predicament
We hear all the time that we’re moments from doomsday. Around us, crises interlock and escalate, threatening our collective survival – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with its rising risk of nuclear warfare, is taking place against a backdrop of global warming, ecological breakdown, and widespread social and economic unrest. Protestors and politicians repeatedly call for action, but still we continue to drift towards disaster. We need to do something. But what if the only way for us to prevent catastrophe is to assume that it has already happened – to accept that we’re already five minutes past zero hour?
Too Late to Awaken sees Slavoj Zizek forge a vital new space for a radical emancipatory politics that could avert our course to self-destruction. He illuminates why the liberal Left has so far failed to offer this alternative, and exposes the insidious propagandism of the fascist Right, which has appropriated and manipulated once-progressive ideas. Pithy, urgent, gutting and witty, Zizek’s diagnosis reveals our current geopolitical nightmare in a startling new light, and shows how, in order to change our future, we must first focus on changing the past.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
Imprint: Allen Lane
Publication date: 02/11/2023
Too Late to Awaken: What Lies Ahead When There is No Future?
by Slavoj Zizek
Review by Josh
In one of his more accessible works, the Slovenian philosopher has a stark vision for our future but also an answer for how to get through it. Zizek’s usual style of rambling his way to profundity is on full display here, complete with dirty jokes, uncouth metaphors and, of course, Hegelian dialectics. His insight into the Russian invasion of Ukraine is both shocking and eye-opening as he deftly dismantles the neoliberal systems that have placed us at this zero hour. The way to a more stable peace, Zizek argues, is to work under the assumption that we’re already past the point of no return. To envision a better future we must assume the disaster point has already struck and grapple with the consequences. Thought-provoking and intriguing, like most of Zizek’s work, you may have to re-read multiple sections to grasp his point but this only makes the eventual realization all the better.
For fans of his countless other books, and also Aurelius’ Meditations and Marx’s The Communist Manifesto.
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