To celebrate our upcoming LIVE RU podcast with Alenka Zupančič and Todd McGowan THIS MONDAY, December 8th, I am sharing this archival episode with Alenka – RU45: ALENKA ZUPANČIČ ON PSYCHOANALYSIS, PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS & COMEDY.
All paid subscribers at Rendering Unconscious Podcast and RU Center for Psychoanalysis are welcome to attend our FIRST LIVE RU Podcast event on Monday! ZOOM LINK below paywall. We will be meeting for 90 minutes beginning at 6PM Stockholm (9AM San Francisco | 12PM NYC | 5PM London | 19:00 Beirut). There will be plenty of time for Q&A/discussion. More info HERE. See you then!
Rendering Unconscious episode 45.
In this episode, Alenka Zupančič discusses her introduction to psychoanalysis through Slavoj Žižek’s work emphasizing the concept of the phallic signifier as an empty signifier. She explores the idea of “short circuits” in theory and practice, highlighting the unexpected connections that illuminate both. Zupančič critiques the reduction of comedy to mere ideological reinforcement, advocating for a more subversive form. She also delves into the dialectics of sexuality and violence, arguing that sexuality is often used to subjectivize violence, obscuring systemic causes. Finally, she touches on the end of history and the role of repetition in psychoanalysis.
Alenka Zupančič has authored many books, including Disavowal (2024), Let Them Rot: Antigone’s Parallax (2023), What is Sex? (2017), Why Psychoanalysis: Three Interventions (2008), The Odd One In: on Comedy (2007), The Shortest Shadow: Nietzsche’s Philosophy of the Two (2003), and Ethics of the Real: Kant and Lacan (2000).
This episode was original published October 23, 2019.
