ABSTRACT
Slavoj Žižek’s unclassifiable brand of criticism, an alloy compounded of dialectical philosophy, psychoanalysis, political theory, and cultural studies, has repeatedly invoked music as a privileged exemplar of the conundrums of modern subjectivity. In writings spanning the past two decades, Žižek has mined the history of music for insights concerning encounters between subjects and others—encounters that, while heavily idealized, offer Žižek a unique point of entry into the arena of musical hermeneutics. Seeking to clarify both the philosophical and psychological dimensions of his arguments regarding music, this essay delves into Žižek’s interpretations of Wagner’s operas and Schumann’s piano pieces, elaborating upon and extending his views on music’s articulation of Lacanian desire, the psychological dynamics of listening, and permutations of loss and otherness in Romanticism and modernism.
