4.5
Comradely Greetings
ByPublisher Description
”We are the rebels asking for the storm, and believing that truth is only to be found in an endless search ... Two years of prison for Pussy Riot is our tribute to a destiny that gave us sharp ears, allowing us to sound the note A when everyone else is used to hearing G flat.”
In an extraordinary exchange of letters, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, imprisoned for taking part in Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin performance, and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek discuss artistic subversion, political activism, and the future of democracy via the ideas of Hegel, Deleuze, Nietzsche, and even Laurie Anderson.
Two radicals, one in a Russian forced labor camp, the other writing to her from far outside its walls, show passionately – across linguistic and generational divides – that “there is still a common cause worth fighting for.” Touching, erudite, and worldly, their correspondence unfolds with poetic urgency.
In association with Philosophie Magazine.
In an extraordinary exchange of letters, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, imprisoned for taking part in Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin performance, and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek discuss artistic subversion, political activism, and the future of democracy via the ideas of Hegel, Deleuze, Nietzsche, and even Laurie Anderson.
Two radicals, one in a Russian forced labor camp, the other writing to her from far outside its walls, show passionately – across linguistic and generational divides – that “there is still a common cause worth fighting for.” Touching, erudite, and worldly, their correspondence unfolds with poetic urgency.
In association with Philosophie Magazine.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities6 Reviews
4.5
Anju Treesa Xavier
Created about 1 month agoShare
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thisiskatedee
Created 3 months agoShare
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Jamrock
Created over 2 years agoShare
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“Ten years since members of the Pussy Riot collective staged a guerrilla performance of their anti-Putin song Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. This was a protest against the Orthodox church support for Putin as much as it was against Putin himself. Good luck trying to find video footage of this event because Russia has ruthlessly pursued a policy of taking down any of the videos shared. Pussy Riot was formed to protest and highlight the increasing Stalinization of global Capitalism as well as against oppressive internal suppression of dissent. For highlights of the protest and their wider work I would refer people to their film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5351006/
Ten years since two members of the collective Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova were convicted of a crime that didn't even exist on Russian statue books and jailed. Nadya was sent to a former gulag, Camp PC-14 in Mordovia. The conditions she (and her fellow inmates) experienced in that camp is almost beyond comprehension.
Ten years since Slavoj Žižek was made aware of Nadya's plight and interest in his essay on (revolutionary) Violence. This eventually led to an idea for the two to exchange letters while Nadya was incarcerated. These letters were then collated for the creation of this publication in 2014. The fact it has taken my until 2022 to discover this book (and really engage with Zizek) is a source of current embarrassment but the more we learn, the more we realise how much we don't know.
What is most fascinating about this book is the dynamic as Zizek initially addresses Nadya with sympathy for her plight and what might be construed as some mansplaining of theory applicable to her plight relative to global capitalism. It quickly becomes apparent that Nadya is extremely well versed in theory and constructing her own world view which repeatedly puts Zizek on the backfoot as he increasingly realises he needs to engage with Nadya as a peer academic, not a star-struck prisoner receiving pen letters from a mentor.
This is a worthy and moving dialogue that covers much ground politically and philosophically. Nadya's internal critique of Putin's Russia and her acknowledgement that her own (and Zizek's) critique of Capitalism is is hindered through an overly Westernised perspective.
I was curious to know what Nadya was up to now and there is https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/mar/08/pussy-riot-nadya-tolokonnikova-interview-putin-nfts-russian?utm_source=pocket_mylist in The Guardian.”
ysabarro
Created over 2 years agoShare
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“A really unique set of correspondences––reading these felt like eavesdropping on the most interesting conversation in the cafe. Loved it.”
About Slavoj Zizek
Nadya Tolokonnikova is a Russian conceptual artist, activist, and one of the founding members of Pussy Riot. Sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for her political activities, she was until recently held captive in a prison hospital in Siberia.
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include Living in the End Times; First as Tragedy, Then as Farce; In Defense of Lost Causes; six volumes of the Essential Žižek; and many more.
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include Living in the End Times; First as Tragedy, Then as Farce; In Defense of Lost Causes; six volumes of the Essential Žižek; and many more.
Other books by Slavoj Zizek
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