Zizeks Jokes: (Did you hear the one about Hegel and negation?) (Mit Press)

iek as comedian: jokes in the service of philosophy.A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.Ludwig WittgensteinThe good news is that this book offers an entertaining but enlightening compilation of iekisms. Unlike any other book by Slavoj iek, this compact arrangement of jokes culled from his writings provides an index to certain philosophical, political, and sexual themes that preoccupy him. ieks Jokes contains the setups and punch linesas well as the offenses and insultsthat iek is famous for, all in less than 200 pages.So whats the bad news? There is no bad news. Theres just the inimitable Slavoj iek, disguised as an impossibly erudite, politically incorrect uncle, beginning a sentence, There is an old Jewish joke, loved by Derrida... For iek, jokes are amusing stories that offer a shortcut to philosophical insight. He illustrates the logic of the Hegelian triad, for example, with three variations of the Not tonight, dear, I have a headache classic: first the wife claims a migraine; then the husband does; then the wife exclaims, Darling, I have a terrible migraine, so lets have some sex to refresh me! A punch line about a beer bottle provides a Lacanian lesson about one signifier. And a truly obscene version of the famous aristocrats joke has the family offering a short course in Hegelian thought rather than a display of unspeakables.ieks Jokes contains every joke cited, paraphrased, or narrated in ieks work in English (including some in unpublished manuscripts), including different versions of the same joke that make different points in different contexts. The larger point being that comedy is central to ieks seriousness.