Opera's Second Death

Žižek, S. and Dolar, M. (2002) Opera's Second Death, London and New York: Routledge. If Hitchcock's films are the most common source of examples in Žižek's books, Wagner's operas probably run them a close second. Picking up on this exemplary obsession and expanding his analysis of it from Tarrying with the Negative, Žižek here devotes half a book to the subject - the other half being Dolar's discussion of Mozart's operas. What is slightly unusual about this book is the subtle change of emphasis where, instead of using Wagnerian opera as a means to explain Lacanian theory, Žižek is more intent here on using Lacanian theory to explain Wagnerian opera. This perhaps makes the book a more relaxing read than the standard Žižekian work, as the reader is no longer fraught with the expectation that each example will have to bear the weight of a demanding Lacanian theorem.