College of Arts and Sciences

English Professor Publishes Book on Žižek, Literature  

Russell Sbriglia English Professor Russell Sbriglia is the editor of a collection of essays on Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek and literary criticism and theory. The book, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek (Duke University Press, 2017), also features a chapter by Slavoj Žižek.

Žižek has been described by Foreign Policy as "a celebrity philosopher," while naming him one of its "Top 100 Global Thinkers." He has also been called "the Elvis of cultural theory" by The Chronicle of Higher Education, and by VICE "the most dangerous philosopher in the West." 

The book is said to challenge "the widely-held assumption that Slavoj Žižek's work is far more germane to film and cultural studies than to literary studies," as it "demonstrates the importance of Žižek to literary criticism and theory." 

Widely praised, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek has been hailed by philosophers and literary critics alike, including Alenka Zupančič, who esteems it "A truly delightful collection of essays, bursting with fresh and genuinely interesting ideas," and Kenneth Reinhard, who writes, "This superb collection of essays is testimony not only to the fact that Slavoj Žižek is the most profoundly original critical theorist of our time, but also to the enormously productive influence he has had on a new generation of literary critics."

In addition to this book on Žižek, Professor Sbriglia is producing another with Žižek. The two are coediting Subject Lessons: Hegel, Lacan, and the Future of Materialism, a collection of essays on psychoanalytic and idealist approaches (and responses) to contemporary materialism(s).

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek 

For more information, please contact: