Opera's Second Death

Operas are about the meaning of love and life, and also very much about the meaning of death. Opera as a form, however, might even be dead itself. The last great operas are said to be those written around 1900.

But, the psychoanalytic critic and philosopher Slavoj Zizek is quick to point out, 1900 is also the year in which Freud 'invents' psychoanalysis. Can this be a coincidence? "Opera's Second Death" is a passionate exploration of opera---the genre, its masterpieces, and the nature of death. Using a dazzling array of tools, Slavoj Zizek and coauthor Mladen Dolar explore the strange compulsions that overpower characters in Mozart and Wagner, as well as our own desires to die and to go to the opera.

Mozart's understanding of psychoanalysis and Wagner's sense of humor are but two of the many surprises in Zizek and Dolar's operatic tour de force. "Opera's Second Death" is an extended aria on a subject that is far from dead.

Opera's Second Death is a passionate exploration of opera - the genre, its masterpieces, and the nature of death. Using a dazzling array of tools, Slavoj Zizek and coauthor Mladen Dolar explore the strange compulsions that overpower characters in Mozart and Wagner, as well as our own desires to die and to go to the opera.

Introduction: For the Love of the Opera

1. Philosophy in the Opera
Mladen Dolar

1.1 The Birth of Opera from the Spirit of Absolutism
1.2 Acheronta movebo
1.3 The Logic of Mercy
1.4 Opera buffa
1.5 Syntax
1.6 Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
1.7 Figaro
1.8 Don Giovanni
1.9 The Opera in Philosophy: Mozart and Kierkegaard
1.10 La femme-machine
1.11 Machine in Love
1.12 A Philosopher in the Opera
1.13 Machine and Enjoyment
1.14 The Rationalistic Myth of the Enlightenment
1.15 He is a Man - Even More, He is a Prince
1.16 Three Continuations

2. "I Do Not Order My Dreams"
Slavoj Zizek

2.1 Death Drive and the Wagnerian Sublime - The Forced Choice - The Disavowal
"Deeper than the day could read"
The 'What-Ifs' - Tristan's Journey to the Bottom of the Night - Transgression? No, thanks! - Wagner's Sexualized Politics - The Moebius Band
2.2 "The Everlasting Irony of the Community"
Wagner with Kierkegaard - Kundry's Laughter . - . and her Kiss - The Feminine versus Woman
2.3 Interlude: The Feminine Excess
2.4 Run, Isolde, Run
The Cyberspace Tristan - The Morning After - "It quacks, hoots, pants, and gasps" - The Separated Flames - No More Running

Notes
Bibliography

Slavoj Zizek is Researcher at the University of Ljubljana. Among his many books are The Fragile Absolute and The Ticklish Subject. Mladen Dolar is Professor of Philosopy at the University of Ljubljana.