On Belief

Žižek, S. (2001) On Belief, London and New York: Routledge. Žižek returns here to the territory of The Fragile Absolute in what he describes as a 'self-critical' mood. Although advertised as an analysis of belief, the main thrust of the book is once again the call for a politics of the ethical act, one which rejects the comforts of pragmatism and repeats the hard-line and unrepentant ethic of St Paul and Lenin. As such this represents the latest of Žižek's entreaties for us to leap into the 'night of the world'. Probably his most acces- sible monograph to date (as well as one of his best-selling), this book can be profitably read with little prior knowledge of the rest of his work.