Slavoj Žižek: Trouble in Paradise

At first I gave this lecture the benefit of the doubt.  Perhaps it was merely my expectation of a Western/English discourse pattern that made it feel jumbled, pointless, obscure.  Slavic/Russian discourse patterns often appear inconsistent to us imperialist Yankees.  Perhaps what I perceived as self-indulgent and pompous was only so seen through my conditioning.  Was I being a bad global citizen, imposing my American expatations [sic] on  world literature?  Were the blinders that kept me from enjoying this book also limiting my access to other literature?

Perhaps the above accusations are well-founded.  But the moment Žižek stooped to defend himself against his detractors, he revealed my reaction to be at least partially warranted.  If he had not quoted one of of his critics as saying "Žižek is once again making a muddled word salad in an attempt to dress up commonplaces as profundity" (207), I might not have found the confidence to believe my own assessment, or the words to express it. 

But while Žižek's "word salad" is indeed without purpose, other than seemingly to convince himself that he is worth listening to, the individual ingredients in that salad were quite tasty.  As with so many other silly, autoerotic contemporary scholars, they often strike a point that is relevant, and occasionally even original.  If only these few moments were developed, distilled, and extrapolated; if only they were the main dish, instead of garnishes meant to lend an otherwise bald and aimless diatribe an air of legitimacy, then I would be swayed, rather than swyven.