The Literary and Cultural Rhetoric of Victimhood : Western Europe, 1970-2005

This study analyzes the pervasive rhetoric of victimhood in European culture since 1968. In a radically fragmented public sphere, individuals perceive themselves as dissociated from all others, while at the same time they feel similar to everyone else. Where genuine solidarity and communality is attenuated, people present themselves as victims to garner media attention, create fragile social bonds, or escape supposed marginalization and oppression. Fatima Naqvi commences with interpretations of Sigmund Freud, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, arguing that contemporary discourse continues a trajectory mapped in the early 20th century--in the shadow of Nazism. In a series of paradigmatic readings of René Girard, Peter Sloterdijk, Michael Haneke, Anselm Kiefer, Christoph Ransmayr, Friederike Mayröcker, Michel Houellebecq, Giorgio Agamben, and Elfriede Jelinek, she traces the on-going fascination with victimhood and the desire for victim status in the West. She looks at the way in which such cultural anxiety expresses itself; at how victim rhetoric calls itself into question; and, finally, at how it perpetuates itself in the moment that it becomes philosophically ungrounded. This study analyzes the pervasive rhetoric of victimhood in European culture since 1968. In a radically fragmented public sphere, individuals perceive themselves as dissociated from all others, while at the same time they feel similar to everyone else. Where genuine solidarity and communality is attenuated, people present themselves as victims to garner media attention, create fragile social bonds, or escape supposed marginalization and oppression. Fatima Naqvi commences with interpretations of Sigmund Freud, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, arguing that contemporary discourse continues a trajectory mapped in the early 20th century?in the shadow of Nazism. In a series of paradigmatic readings of Reň Girard, Peter Sloterdijk, Michael Haneke, Anselm Kiefer, Christoph Ransmayr, Friederike Mayr̲cker, Michel Houellebecq, Giorgio Agamben, and Elfriede Jelinek, she traces the on-going fascination with victimhood and the desire for victim status in the West. She looks at the way in which such cultural anxiety expresses itself; at how victim rhetoric calls itself into question; and, finally, at how it perpetuates itself in the moment that it becomes philosophically ungrounded This study analyzes the pervasive rhetoric of victimhood in European culture since 1968. In a fragmented public sphere, individuals perceive themselves as dissociated from all others, while at the same time they feel similar to everyone else. Where communality is attenuated, people present themselves as victims to garner media attention, create fragile social bonds, or escape supposed marginalization. Fatima Naqvi commences with interpretations of Sigmund Freud, Theodor Adorno, and Max Horkheimer, arguing that contemporary discourse continues a trajectory mapped in the shadow of Nazism. In a series of paradigmatic readings of Rene Girard, Peter Sloterdijk, Michael Haneke, Anselm Kiefer, Christoph Ransmayr, Friederike Mayrocker, Michel Houellebecq, Giorgio Agamben, and Elfriede Jelinek, she traces the on-going fascination with victimhood and the desire for victim status in the West. She looks at the way in which such cultural anxiety expresses itself, how victim rhetoric calls itself into question, and how it perpetuates itself in the moment that it becomes philosophically ungrounded. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 A Prefatory Note on Translations......Page 7 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction Sacrificial Victims: Sigmund Freud, Theodor Adorno, and Max Horkheimer......Page 10 1 Politics of Indifference: René Girard and Peter Sloterdijk......Page 36 2 Mediated Invisibility: Michael Haneke......Page 56 3 Apocalyptic Cosmologies: Christoph Ransmayr and Anselm Kiefer......Page 82 4 Mourning is Moot: A Brief Reprise of Freud......Page 110 5 Feminization and Impoverishment: Friederike Mayröcker......Page 120 6 The Domain of Sexual Struggle: Michel Houellebecq......Page 144 7 Cognitive Dissonances: Elfriede Jelinek......Page 178 Notes......Page 202 Works Cited......Page 252 E......Page 270 J......Page 271 R......Page 272 Y......Page 273 In a series of paradigmatic readings of René Girard, Peter Sloterdijk, Michael Haneke, Anselm Kiefer, Michel Houellebecq, Elfriede Jelinek, Giorgio Agamben, Naqvi examines the current fascination with victimhood and the desire for victim status.