Interview with Slavoj Zizek - Or Why He Hates Snow and Office Hours
Interview · The Global Art & Ideas Nexus ·
2014-04 · 0:10:16 · 1,364 words
cinema-art-culturepsychoanalysisphilosophy-generaleveryday-life
Žižek recounts his autobiographical trajectory, describing a childhood devoid of friends but defined by an early immersion in cinema and film theory. He details his intellectual formation through structuralism and psychoanalysis, specifically Lacan, and his eventual career path into research, explaining his aversion to teaching and administrative duties in academia.
every located moment in this recording, click one to read it
The ideas in it 3
in the order they first come up; click a row for what he does with the idea here
Žižek's self-deprecating label for his early, solitary engagement with cinema and film theory, which provided him with a sense of liberation from his unhappy childhood.
A formula attributed to Deleuze that Žižek uses to explain his sense of predestination in his intellectual and professional life.
as “Indian summer of hard-line Stalinism”
Žižek's description of the late 1960s/early 1970s political climate in Yugoslavia, which ironically prevented him from getting a standard academic job, leading to his preferred research position.
Stories he reaches for 1
Žižek describes his disdain for office hours, imagining giving a 'boring idiot' student a knife and telling them to kill themselves, highlighting his hatred of student personal problems.
“I don't care kill yourself it's not my problem you know? I give them the knife and say...”
Works invoked 3
Kalevala book
Cited as part of the 'darker Nordic mythology' (along with Iceland sagas) that fascinated Žižek from elementary school.
Iceland sagas book
Cited as part of the 'darker Nordic mythology' that Žižek preferred over Greek/Latin myths, leading him to Wagner.
Mentioned as part of the popular culture (reading about Knights of the Round Table) that led Žižek into the world of Wagner and Nordic myth.
People invoked 7
André Bazin positive
Cited as part of the classical film theory translated into his language during his elementary school reading.
Richard Wagner positive
Žižek expresses a deep, lifelong affinity for Wagner, linking him to Nordic mythology and a secret dream of staging a Wagner opera.
Jacques Lacan positive
Žižek states that upon encountering Lacan's work during the explosion of structuralism, he immediately knew 'that's it that will be my fate.'
Mentioned as one of the structuralist thinkers (along with Lacan and Foucault) whose work exploded in French thought during Žižek's high school years.
Gilles Deleuze positive
Cited for a 'nice formula' about being chosen before choosing, which Žižek uses to explain his sense of predestination.
Mentioned as one of the structuralist thinkers (along with Lacan and Althusser) whose work exploded in French thought during Žižek's high school years.
Sergei Eisenstein positive
Cited as part of the classical film theory translated into his language during his elementary school reading.
Transcript 7 turns
unknown
Alright we're rolling.
Alright we're rolling.
unknown
Awesome. Well thank you Slavoj Žižek for meeting with us and for having this brief interview. Thank you for your time and for an amazingly thought-provoking talk. So this is going to be a biographical interview so it's going to be a little bit more about your childhood and how you perceive life and all the exciting things in between. So if we could start what is your earliest memory? What was your earliest memory as a child that you can recall that was probably the most influential memory?
Awesome. Well thank you Slavoj Žižek for meeting with us and for having this brief interview. Thank you for your time and for an amazingly thought-provoking talk. So this is going to be a biographical interview so it's going to be a little bit more about your childhood and how you perceive life and all the exciting things in between. So if we could start what is your earliest memory? What was your earliest memory as a child that you can recall that was probably the most influential memory?
Slavoj Žižek
First I try to erase as much as possible of my past. Vaguely my first memory is when I was three four. There was so much snow in Ljubljana all the traffic stopped and so on. And I remember you know exiting the house on a big main street and you know there was like four five yards of snow and small tunnels in between like you had to walk as if in some mystical space full of snow just tunnels in the middle of the city. That's my single first earlier memory. That's
First I try to erase as much as possible of my past. Vaguely my first memory is when I was three four. There was so much snow in Ljubljana all the traffic stopped and so on. And I remember you know exiting the house on a big main street and you know there was like four five yards of snow and small tunnels in between like you had to walk as if in some mystical space full of snow just tunnels in the middle of the city. That's my single first earlier memory. That's
unknown
great. Wow. Okay. And who was the most influential person to you as a child?
great. Wow. Okay. And who was the most influential person to you as a child?
Slavoj Žižek
That's good idea because I didn't like my parents I didn't have any friends whom I really liked. What do you mean by child? Specify the era. Probably um eight to My god. No one. And it's not I think it's not that I'm repressing something you know in the sense of there was a traumatic guy but I don't want to know about it. No. Simply I don't know. It's something so weird with my past but I hate my life till the university. Really? I try to erase it totally. I hated the elementary school I hated the high school. The only thing I liked is in high school they opened in Ljubljana the city where I live Cinematheque because these are pre-digital times of course where they show just old movies and this was a paradise for me my favorite place. Because practically every day I went to a movie theater to cinema showing all the old classics and so on and so on. This is the only pleasant memory almost that I have of that time. So why is it that for example that well you say that you're not repressing it so why is it that
That's good idea because I didn't like my parents I didn't have any friends whom I really liked. What do you mean by child? Specify the era. Probably um eight to My god. No one. And it's not I think it's not that I'm repressing something you know in the sense of there was a traumatic guy but I don't want to know about it. No. Simply I don't know. It's something so weird with my past but I hate my life till the university. Really? I try to erase it totally. I hated the elementary school I hated the high school. The only thing I liked is in high school they opened in Ljubljana the city where I live Cinematheque because these are pre-digital times of course where they show just old movies and this was a paradise for me my favorite place. Because practically every day I went to a movie theater to cinema showing all the old classics and so on and so on. This is the only pleasant memory almost that I have of that time. So why is it that for example that well you say that you're not repressing it so why is it that
unknown
you're trying to forget it? Because I don't like the memory of myself from that time the way I remember it. I was kind of a shy guy and wanted to avoid company and so on. Maybe there is something traumatic I don't know. But I don't again I didn't have any in any sense traumatic memories. It's just that when I discovered first cinema as art then opera then theory all other things simply became irrelevant for me. So is
you're trying to forget it? Because I don't like the memory of myself from that time the way I remember it. I was kind of a shy guy and wanted to avoid company and so on. Maybe there is something traumatic I don't know. But I don't again I didn't have any in any sense traumatic memories. It's just that when I discovered first cinema as art then opera then theory all other things simply became irrelevant for me. So is
Slavoj Žižek
that why cinema was such a pivotal aspect of your...? Yeah yeah. This was my if I may use this disgusting term spiritual freedom when I was young no? Yeah yeah yeah. And I started already in elementary school to read film theory. Something was there things being translated in my language Eisenstein André Bazin all that classical stuff from 50s 60s no? Yeah yeah. So that had a massive influence on you as well as your work. Yeah yeah. Before becoming interested in philosophy I began with cinema theory. I even had dreams of maybe doing making directing a movie. But then simply by getting to see all the classics I simply thought I'm too stupid I cannot do it so I resigned. But now I still have dreams not to do a movie but to stage a Wagner opera that's my secret dream. Really? So what is it about Wagner that really inspires you? Again it's so... first I hated always this Mediterranean mythology Greek Latin. I always preferred the much darker Nordic mythology the ancient German myth Iceland sagas Finland Kalevala and so on. This... and I like that world which ends up in a catastrophe the total destruction of everything. From... from my elementary school I was fascinated by Nordic mythology. Wow. This brought me to Wagner. But then I am a Wagnerian from when I was years. Really? Yeah yeah. How did you know? I simply discovered it by through popular culture. I was reading about Knights of the Round Table blah blah blah. Yes yeah yeah. But then I fell into it and I am like that since then. Yeah yeah. And now I have the same taste. The shocking thing is how little I changed. Wagner was there Hitchcock was there. All this was already there. I always had this I talked about this today this feeling of predestination. Yes. And I remember the last year of my high school this French thought exploded. So-called at that point structuralism Lacan Foucault Althusser. Yeah. And I remember it's very mystical almost I was reading that stuff and immediately I knew Lacan that's it that will be my fate. And I'm there still. So you see life was for me easy in this basic sense that I never had to choose oscillate should I this should I do that? I always knew exactly what I will do. And my luck was that I was able to do it. Wow. So would you say that you were predestined then? Maybe yeah. Definitely looks like that. But already Gilles Deleuze has this nice formula. He says if you want to be able to choose you first have to be chosen. That's nice. Yeah yeah. And I was extremely lucky in a weird way even political oppression worked for me. Because in early 70s when I finished my postgraduate studies my dream was to become a professor first assistant professor blah blah in Department of Philosophy. But early 70s were the last Indian summer of hard-line Stalinism. Yes. So I didn't get the job. A couple of years I was unemployed and then I got the job at which I am now even you know? Wow. I mean researcher pure research. That's great. I hate I hate I hate... okay talks are okay but I hate giving classes. Because then all the baggage you get by it which means office hours grading the papers. I never did that. I am proud to say I did teach a couple of semesters here and all the grading was pure bluff. And I even openly told this to students. I told them I remember at New School for example in New York if you don't give me any of your shitty papers you get an A. If you give me a paper I may read it and not like it and you can get a lower grade you know? And it worked. I got no papers. Office hours are a problem. This is the main reason I don't want to teach. Oh wow. Yeah. Because office hours you know students... they're like other people the majority are boring idiots. So I cannot imagine a worse experience than some idiot comes there and starts to ask you questions which is still tolerable. The problem is that here in United States students tend to be so open that sooner or later if you are kind to them they even start to ask you personal questions like private problems could you help them and so on. What should I tell them? I don't care kill yourself it's not my problem you know? I give them the knife and say... Yeah yeah. So... I like universities without students. That's nice actually. Yeah yeah. Okay they are called research institutes which I love. I mean you know that you just do what you want. I mean if you're a lazy person of course you do nothing. But I'm a workaholic and as such I was in a way very lucky also. After those couple of years after finishing my studies of unemployment all the time I was at a research job. I had a research job and it was perfect. Wow. Just like having... Yeah yeah yeah.
that why cinema was such a pivotal aspect of your...? Yeah yeah. This was my if I may use this disgusting term spiritual freedom when I was young no? Yeah yeah yeah. And I started already in elementary school to read film theory. Something was there things being translated in my language Eisenstein André Bazin all that classical stuff from 50s 60s no? Yeah yeah. So that had a massive influence on you as well as your work. Yeah yeah. Before becoming interested in philosophy I began with cinema theory. I even had dreams of maybe doing making directing a movie. But then simply by getting to see all the classics I simply thought I'm too stupid I cannot do it so I resigned. But now I still have dreams not to do a movie but to stage a Wagner opera that's my secret dream. Really? So what is it about Wagner that really inspires you? Again it's so... first I hated always this Mediterranean mythology Greek Latin. I always preferred the much darker Nordic mythology the ancient German myth Iceland sagas Finland Kalevala and so on. This... and I like that world which ends up in a catastrophe the total destruction of everything. From... from my elementary school I was fascinated by Nordic mythology. Wow. This brought me to Wagner. But then I am a Wagnerian from when I was years. Really? Yeah yeah. How did you know? I simply discovered it by through popular culture. I was reading about Knights of the Round Table blah blah blah. Yes yeah yeah. But then I fell into it and I am like that since then. Yeah yeah. And now I have the same taste. The shocking thing is how little I changed. Wagner was there Hitchcock was there. All this was already there. I always had this I talked about this today this feeling of predestination. Yes. And I remember the last year of my high school this French thought exploded. So-called at that point structuralism Lacan Foucault Althusser. Yeah. And I remember it's very mystical almost I was reading that stuff and immediately I knew Lacan that's it that will be my fate. And I'm there still. So you see life was for me easy in this basic sense that I never had to choose oscillate should I this should I do that? I always knew exactly what I will do. And my luck was that I was able to do it. Wow. So would you say that you were predestined then? Maybe yeah. Definitely looks like that. But already Gilles Deleuze has this nice formula. He says if you want to be able to choose you first have to be chosen. That's nice. Yeah yeah. And I was extremely lucky in a weird way even political oppression worked for me. Because in early 70s when I finished my postgraduate studies my dream was to become a professor first assistant professor blah blah in Department of Philosophy. But early 70s were the last Indian summer of hard-line Stalinism. Yes. So I didn't get the job. A couple of years I was unemployed and then I got the job at which I am now even you know? Wow. I mean researcher pure research. That's great. I hate I hate I hate... okay talks are okay but I hate giving classes. Because then all the baggage you get by it which means office hours grading the papers. I never did that. I am proud to say I did teach a couple of semesters here and all the grading was pure bluff. And I even openly told this to students. I told them I remember at New School for example in New York if you don't give me any of your shitty papers you get an A. If you give me a paper I may read it and not like it and you can get a lower grade you know? And it worked. I got no papers. Office hours are a problem. This is the main reason I don't want to teach. Oh wow. Yeah. Because office hours you know students... they're like other people the majority are boring idiots. So I cannot imagine a worse experience than some idiot comes there and starts to ask you questions which is still tolerable. The problem is that here in United States students tend to be so open that sooner or later if you are kind to them they even start to ask you personal questions like private problems could you help them and so on. What should I tell them? I don't care kill yourself it's not my problem you know? I give them the knife and say... Yeah yeah. So... I like universities without students. That's nice actually. Yeah yeah. Okay they are called research institutes which I love. I mean you know that you just do what you want. I mean if you're a lazy person of course you do nothing. But I'm a workaholic and as such I was in a way very lucky also. After those couple of years after finishing my studies of unemployment all the time I was at a research job. I had a research job and it was perfect. Wow. Just like having... Yeah yeah yeah.