Slavoj Zizek’s Interview by Rosanna Greenstreet
Q & A appeared in the Guardian on Saturday August 09 2008 on p9 of the Features & Comment section.
1.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, … He is a model of what can be done for the people even in a desperate situation.
Which living person do you most despise, and why?
Medical doctors who assist torturers.
2.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Indifference to the plights of others.
What makes you depressed?
Seeing stupid people happy.
3.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
That it makes me appear the way I really am.
How do you relax?
Listening again and again to Wagner.
How often do you have sex?
It depends what one means by sex. If it’s the usual masturbation with a living partner, I try not to have it at all.
4.
If you could go back in time, where would you go?
To Germany in the early 19th century, to follow a university course by Hegel.
Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?
The new German edition of the collected works of Hegel.
What is your most treasured possession?
See the previous answer.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The chapters where I develop what I think is a good interpretation of Hegel.
5.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
What Alain Badiou calls the ‘obscure disaster’ of the 20th century: the catastrophic failure of communism.
Tell us a secret.
Communism will win.
