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{{Title}}[[Slavoj Žižek:Interviews|Interviews with Slavoj Žižek]]{{AuthorISZ}}

* "[[Joker Apart]]." ''The Guardian''. 8 October 2005. [[James ]] Harkin. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1587546,00.html>

We are in the heart of bohemian Bloomsbury, but this It is a far cry from what I had expected. When I agreed to meet Slavoj Zizek sparkling Sunday morning in Tavistock Squareearly autumn, it was because he mentioned that he'd like to look at a house in the square where Lenin had once lived and written one of his books. When we get therethe [[world]]'s leading [[public]] intellectuals, there is little to see apart dressed in a mod jacket and sandals and swigging from a statue can of Gandhi - Lenin no longer packs in the touristsDiet Coke, and there is no record giving me the benefit of him having stayed here his [[experience]] on cheap [[London]] hotels. "This one" - and so he entertains me and the photographer with quips and apercus points to it - "is pretty reasonable. Not cheap, you [[know]], but cheap for London. There are [[other]] [[good]] ones around here, if you know where to look. And you can walk everywhere from everyone from Brecht to Kierkegaardhere."

Zizek positively fizzes with enthusiasm for anything that might be hoisted into We are in the world heart of ideasbohemian Bloomsbury, so much so that it but this is sometimes difficult to get him to shut upa far cry from what I had expected. When the photographer tells him I agreed to keep his mouth closed for the picturesmeet Slavoj [[Zizek]] in Tavistock Square, it was because he dutifully obeys for about two seconds before launching into mentioned that he'd like to look at a half-serious aside house in which he compares the camera square where [[Lenin]] had once lived and written one of his books. When we get there, there is little to see apart from a phallus. "You spoke," fumes the photographer statue of Gandhi - Lenin no longer packs in jokey exasperation. On discovering that the photographer tourists, and there is Scottish, Zizek assures him that they share a bond of kinship. "We Slovenians are even better misers than you Scottish. You know how Scotland began? One no record of us Slovenians was spending too much money, so we put him on a boat having stayed here - and so he landed in Scotlandentertains me and the photographer with quips and apercus from everyone from [[Brecht]] to [[Kierkegaard]]."

For someone like Slavoj Zizekpositively fizzes with enthusiasm for anything that might be hoisted into the world of [[ideas]], even so much so that it is sometimes difficult to get him to shut up. When the photographer tells him to keep his mouth closed for the pictures, he dutifully obeys for [[about]] two seconds before launching into a joke can be an exercise half-serious aside in theorywhich he compares the camera to a [[phallus]]. In "You spoke," fumes the flesh, photographer in jokey exasperation. On discovering that the beardedphotographer is Scottish, intense Slovenian looks Zizek assures him that they share a little like Jesus might have donebond of kinship. "We Slovenians are even better misers than you Scottish. You know how Scotland began? One of us Slovenians was spending too much [[money]], if Jesus had lasted another 10 years, upped sticks to the chillier climes of eastern Europe so we put him on a boat and converted to revolutionary Marxismhe landed in Scotland."

A one-man heavy industry of cultural criticismFor someone like [[Slavoj Zizek]], even a [[joke]] can be an exercise in [[theory]]. In the flesh, the 58-year-old Zizek has authored more than 50 booksbearded, which intense Slovenian looks a little like [[Jesus]] might have been translated into more than 20 languagesdone, on subjects as diverse as Hitchcockif Jesus had lasted [[another]] 10 years, Lenin, and upped sticks to the terrorist attacks chillier climes of September 11. His brand of social theory - a peculiar amalgam of Karl Marx, the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan eastern [[Europe]] and the trash can of contemporary popular culture - has long afforded him a cult following among fashionable young academicsconverted to revolutionary [[Marxism]].

No longer tethered to a single institutionA one-man heavy industry of [[cultural]] criticism, the 58-year-old Zizek spends his time roving between speaking engagements at institutions all over the world. He is leaving London first thing tomorrowhas authored more than 50 books, which have been translated into more than 20 [[languages]], on [[subjects]] as diverse as [[Hitchcock]], he tells meLenin, for Paris to be profiled by and the newspaper Libérationterrorist attacks of [[September 11]]. Then he is off to headline His brand of [[social]] theory - a Design Congress in Copenhagen ("€7peculiar amalgam of Karl [[Marx]],500," he shouts to me, still under the photographer's cosh, "first[[French]] [[psychoanalyst]] Jacques [[Lacan]] and the trash can of contemporary popular [[culture]] -class everything, and all that for 40 minutes selling them some old stuff") and then it is back to Sloveniahas long afforded him a cult following among fashionable young academics.

On April 1 this year ("No longer tethered to a great day to get married")single institution, he married a 27-year-old Argentinian former lingerie model and now Zizek spends one third of his [[time in Slovenia looking after his young son from a former marriage]] roving between [[speaking]] engagements at institutions all over the world. He is leaving London first [[thing]] tomorrow, he tells me, for [[Paris]] to be profiled by the newspaper Libération. Then he is off to headline a third of his time with his new wife [[Design]] Congress in Buenos AiresCopenhagen ("€7,500," he shouts to me, still under the photographer's cosh, "first-[[class]] everything, and the rest of his time on the roadall that for 40 minutes selling [[them]] some old stuff") and then it is back to [[Slovenia]].

On April 1 this year ("a great day to get [[married]]"), he married a 27-year-old Argentinian former lingerie [[model]] and now spends one [[third]] of his time in Slovenia [[looking]] after his young son from a former [[marriage]], a third of his time with his new wife in Buenos Aires, and the rest of his time on the road. As soon as he has been released from the photographer's grip, I decide to whisk him off for Sunday lunch. I am a little lost, and take out my map, but Zizek immediately grabs it. It turns out that he [[knows ]] the area well - he stays here whenever he is in town - and he decides to take me on a tour of it. He delights in showing me the restaurant in Russell Square that is using the [[name ]] of Virginia Woolf ("that nasty bitch, a [[total ]] snob") to sell its pasta and burgers. He pokes gentle fun at the Brunswick Centre for its attempts to use architecture to create a [[community]]. And he leads me directly to the pub I have been trying to find on his behalf.

While he is not a believer himself, he sees it as his mission to rage against the demise of our Judaeo-[[Christian ]] heritage and its replacement by a burgeoning palette of destructive, new-age attempts at spirituality. Typically, his soft spot for both [[Leninism ]] and [[Christianity ]] is a deliberate kick against the tide of the [[times]].

Whereas it is now de rigueur for intellectuals to profess a certain grudging respect for Marx and his [[analysis]], Lenin's reputation - even among leftists - remains that of a brutal authoritarian pragmatist. Zizek begs to differ. For him, Lenin was the St [[Paul ]] of [[communism]], the organisational [[genius ]] who, just as [[St Paul ]] invented the Christian [[church]], turned communism from an [[idea ]] into a [[global ]] movement. We should miss both Lenin and St Paul, he argues, because these days we are retreating into a new-age spirituality that turns up its nose at any engagements in the [[real ]] world.

Zizek is keen to rubbish the assumption that we live in a decadent, consumption-obsessed [[society]]. There is, he maintains, plenty of [[belief ]] around. It is just that our beliefs are secreted within the fabric of our lifestyles, and we profess not to take them very seriously - [[witness]], he says, the popularity of everything from books like The [[Da Vinci ]] [[Code ]] to newspaper horoscopes.

Zizek sees it as his job to keep alive the revolutionary [[conscience]], and he specialises in needling leftwingers and [[liberals ]] who have moved on to make their peace with the [[political ]] [[system]]. It has won him some interesting [[intellectual ]] bedfellows, and a few enemies. He is critical, for example, of the [[liberal ]] [[notion ]] of harassment in contemporary western societies. He agrees that [[The Real|the real ]] experience of [[sexual ]] or racial harassment can be terrifying, but goes on to argues that - almost imperceptibly - the idea of harassment has slid into a social [[neurosis ]] that means no more than an [[injunction ]] to keep out of our personal [[space]]. "The liberal idea of [[tolerance]]," he argues, "is more and more a kind of [[intolerance]]. What it means is leave me alone, don't harass me, I'm intolerant towards your over-proximity." He sees something suspicious in the way that smokers are increasingly kept at a distance and seen as polluters who are intent on violating space. It is part of the antiseptic [[nature ]] of contemporary culture, he says - coffee without caffeine, beer without alcohol, cakes without sugar.

But, I protest, he has just ordered a Diet Coke to go with his chocolate fudge brownie. "Come on," he says. "I don't have any problem violating my own insights in [[practice]]." Even the [[Iraq ]] war, he points out, was initially conceived as a decaffeinated [[conflict ]] - a war without victims, at least on our side. "Nowadays," he says, "you can do anything that you [[want ]] - [[anal]], [[oral]], fisting" - I stare down momentarily into my Yorkshire pudding - "but you [[need ]] to be wearing gloves, condoms, protection."

He is struck, he says, in his debates with American advocates of [[multiculturalism]], by how much their professed respect for other cultures is defined by their distance from the culture at hand. "For the multiculturalist," he argues, "white [[Anglo-Saxon ]] Protestants are prohibited, Italians and Irish get a little respect, blacks are good, native Americans are even better. The further away we go, the more they deserve respect. This is a kind of inverted, patronising respect that puts everyone at a distance."

As a former [[citizen ]] of [[Yugoslavia]], Zizek argues that, prior to its break-up, ethnic [[jokes ]] told by the different peoples of the country about each other were cathartic, helping to bond them to the devil they knew. The only effective antidote to our antiseptic multiculturalism, he remains convinced, "is the [[exchange ]] of obscenities, the practice of telling racist or xenophobic jokes in a non-racist manner".

Zizek's jokes are very funny, but it is about time that I let him go. He is leaving the next day, after all, and [[needs ]] to go to Tottenham Court Road to [[search ]] out some PlayStation [[games ]] for his son. His son's current favourite, he tells me, is one where the player assumes the [[role ]] of taxi [[driver ]] and is rewarded for ferrying passengers neatly to their various destinations. But instead of following the rules, Zizek's son delights in flooring just about everything in [[sight]]: cars, traffic lights, even passing pedestrians. Though I am too polite to say so, it strikes me that the boy Zizek might well have a [[future ]] in the [[family ]] business.