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Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj by Slavoj Žižek, Nadya Tolokonnikova
joestickley's review
4.0
A short but sweet collection of letters between Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek and Russian activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. An incredibly interesting but heavy read.
pilesandpiles's review
3.0
I read this out of interest in the ideas of Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot, and I'd recommend it to others who are curious about the same. Zizek, for those who are familiar with his persona and recent ideas about global capitalism, does his usual thing. His letters are predictably super mansplain-ey. In one he situates Tolokonnikova as the one of the two of them whose ideas come from the actual experience of imprisonment, while he has the privilege of theorizing -- as though Tolokonnikova's words and ideas, especially pertaining to her conditions of imprisonment, weren't also a mode of theorization, and as though her understanding of those conditions weren't already mediated and not some direct truth... Gayatri Spivak says all this better in the first couple of pages of "Can the Subaltern Speak," where she calls out Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze for doing something very similar. Anyway, Zizek actually backtracks and apologizes to Tolokonnikova, though only for being a male chauvinist, not a Western intellectual chauvinist. Also, if you're interested in Pussy Riot's feminism, there's almost nothing specifically about that in this book.
spikelike's review
3.0
It was hard for me to understand. I don’t know a lot about Nietzche or Heigel. An entire book about the Mordovian prison camp is what we really need
jeannotselivre's review
3.0
I think that it's not the book I was looking for. I would have love to read a book only written by Nadya, with her ideas, her reflexions, and what she went through.
jerryonly's review
4.0
nadya rules but folks, if i wanted to be incoherently mansplained to about capitalism i'd call up my ex boyfriend!!
wild_night_in's review
4.0
I'd thought that I'd read this through and then donate it to a charity shop, but there's so much in there that it deserves at least a second reading when the dust has settled.
I found the first couple of Žižek's letters a bit showy, as though he's interested in how others will perceive the correspondence. It takes three letters for him to admit, in the 4th that he was, "aware of the falsity of the final turn in my last letter: my expression of sympathy with your plight basically meant, "I have the privilege of doing real theory and teaching you about it while you are basically good for reporting on your experiences of hardship"". After a heartfelt apology, he really gets down to conversing with her. His letters become less showy and more responsive to the ideas she mentions. His final letter was so eloquent and had enough humanity in it for me to forget it was he who had written it.
It was Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's letters that lifted this book and eventually set the tone. Imprisoned in an SEZ (special economic zone), she details in an open letter her horrific living conditions. 16-hour working days with broken machines, impossible quotas, beatings, enforced starvation.. the descriptions were made more toe-curling still by Nadya's utter lack of self-pity as she detailed all this. She could have spent all her time writing about prison life and been utterly justified. Instead, apart from the one open letter, she refrains from mentioning the horror of prison. She loses herself-or perhaps finds herself- in ideas. She critiques her own colonial perspective and challenges it as best she can. She hears a rumor that Slavoj was planning on writing a critique of Pussy Riot, and welcomes it so that she'll be able to refine her ideology.
She refers to herself as one of "the children of Dionysus, floating by in a barrel, accepting nobody's authority. We're on the side of those who don't offer final answers or transcendent truths. Our mission rather is the asking of questions." Throughout her letters she does ask questions, she doesn't offer final answers, and she calls out both her own and Slavoj's preconceptions and several sweeping statements disguised as 'transcendent truths'. But I never felt that she was questioning the status quo for the sake of it. Her questions always felt productive, as though she hoped that by asking the right question she would stumble across a solution to the problems she was exploring.
I found the first couple of Žižek's letters a bit showy, as though he's interested in how others will perceive the correspondence. It takes three letters for him to admit, in the 4th that he was, "aware of the falsity of the final turn in my last letter: my expression of sympathy with your plight basically meant, "I have the privilege of doing real theory and teaching you about it while you are basically good for reporting on your experiences of hardship"". After a heartfelt apology, he really gets down to conversing with her. His letters become less showy and more responsive to the ideas she mentions. His final letter was so eloquent and had enough humanity in it for me to forget it was he who had written it.
It was Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's letters that lifted this book and eventually set the tone. Imprisoned in an SEZ (special economic zone), she details in an open letter her horrific living conditions. 16-hour working days with broken machines, impossible quotas, beatings, enforced starvation.. the descriptions were made more toe-curling still by Nadya's utter lack of self-pity as she detailed all this. She could have spent all her time writing about prison life and been utterly justified. Instead, apart from the one open letter, she refrains from mentioning the horror of prison. She loses herself-or perhaps finds herself- in ideas. She critiques her own colonial perspective and challenges it as best she can. She hears a rumor that Slavoj was planning on writing a critique of Pussy Riot, and welcomes it so that she'll be able to refine her ideology.
She refers to herself as one of "the children of Dionysus, floating by in a barrel, accepting nobody's authority. We're on the side of those who don't offer final answers or transcendent truths. Our mission rather is the asking of questions." Throughout her letters she does ask questions, she doesn't offer final answers, and she calls out both her own and Slavoj's preconceptions and several sweeping statements disguised as 'transcendent truths'. But I never felt that she was questioning the status quo for the sake of it. Her questions always felt productive, as though she hoped that by asking the right question she would stumble across a solution to the problems she was exploring.
thomasliam300's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
piccoline's review against another edition
5.0
A revelation. I enjoy Zizek, often, and have found his work useful in peeling back some of the more insidious layers of illusion that surround us. But the real revelation here is Nadya Tolokonnikova, one of the previously imprisoned members of Pussy Riot. I'd meant, for some time, to do more and better reading on Pussy Riot. My initial impression of their protest in the church (the one for which Nadya and two of her fellow members were imprisoned) was positive. It seemed a garish but ultimately very Christian (and emphatically *not* blasphemous) protest against the disgusting capitulation of the Russian church hierarchy to Putin, for that church allying itself with him and working to ideologically support him. (It is worth savoring the deep irony there, too, of Dostoevsky's old parable of the Grand Inquisitor with its critique of the Catholic Church for its love of power to the point where the Grand Inquisitor insists that Christ himself erred in refusing the Devil's tempting offer of worldly power. Here now we see the Orthodox Church that Dostoevsky so loved repeating the same move. But I digress.)
Here, in passionate and clear words, Tolokonnikova explains Pussy Riot's stance, what it sees as the stakes, and demonstrated in the process a wonderful understanding of how complex and all-encompassing the problems are. If you're worried that this is a mismatch in terms of revolutionary and philosophical firepower, you've nothing to fear. Tolokonnikova goes toe to toe with Slavoj on a few issues, and comes out looking fabulous. It's nice to see this side of Zizek, too, the side that has someone to talk back to him (unlike in the endless torrent of words and texts that he usually generates) and that must make concessions here and there, and clarify his meaning in places where he has perhaps allowed his usual flow to get away from him.
All of this in just over 100 pages. If you've been meaning to investigate Zizek, or Pussy Riot, or the complexities that are rising all over the world (Egypt, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Snowden, Manning, CIA torture) this is a great way to hit the ground running.
Highly recommended.
Here, in passionate and clear words, Tolokonnikova explains Pussy Riot's stance, what it sees as the stakes, and demonstrated in the process a wonderful understanding of how complex and all-encompassing the problems are. If you're worried that this is a mismatch in terms of revolutionary and philosophical firepower, you've nothing to fear. Tolokonnikova goes toe to toe with Slavoj on a few issues, and comes out looking fabulous. It's nice to see this side of Zizek, too, the side that has someone to talk back to him (unlike in the endless torrent of words and texts that he usually generates) and that must make concessions here and there, and clarify his meaning in places where he has perhaps allowed his usual flow to get away from him.
All of this in just over 100 pages. If you've been meaning to investigate Zizek, or Pussy Riot, or the complexities that are rising all over the world (Egypt, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Snowden, Manning, CIA torture) this is a great way to hit the ground running.
Highly recommended.
willande123's review against another edition
5.0
Slavoj Žižek, a Slovenian philosopher of the New Left, and Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova, a member of the radical Russian protest group Pussy Riot, wrote these letters to each other when Nadya was imprisoned in a Russian work camp after her protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in an Orthodox cathedral in 2012.
Even though Slavoj and Nadya had never met, the writers' familiarity and the letters' raw emotions are striking. They write about work conditions and women's rights and totalitarianism and oppressive Russia and the hypocrisy of the Western world. Nadya details the illegal work conditions and punishment she endures in the camp, and Slavoj waxes political, identifying problems and offering solutions. But Slavoj continuously must apologize retroactively for explaining concepts to the obviously well-read and educated Nadya. Even leftist philosophers can mansplain.
As I sat down to write something about this slender book, I immediately thought of something my mother said to me. My parents and I were talking about women's rights, and I was getting heated and fevered when my mom said (and I paraphrase), "Why do you even care about this? You're not a woman." This came from a woman who fought her way up corporate ladders for 25 years, breaking glass floor after glass floor, and I was devastated. Maybe I was mansplaining too, and that's a scary thought, one that Slavoj and Nadya grapple with too.
They write with anger and sadness, but always with fervent hope for the future. Putin's totalitarianism shapes Nadya's every word, and the writing drips with context, enough to somehow escape the prison censors. She quotes and argues, and so does Slavoj, and they recognize that even the ability to argue is a political freedom not afforded to many in Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes. And yes, Western governments are hypocritical, buying Russian gas while at the same time denouncing Russia's crackdown on dissidents like Nadya. The same thing happened during the ongoing Ukrainian crisis – public threats and private dealing.
Is free speech worth imprisonment? To Nadya and Slavoj, it's a clear yes. Ideally, I agree, but I don't know if I could go to a Russian work camp. But I admire Slavoj and Nadya's (especially Nadya's) steadfast determination, unflinching principles, and ability to adapt to tough conditions and new ideas. The world needs more published, raw discourse. If not, we'll truly be stuck in the quagmire of modern life, and we'll solve nothing. To Nadya and Slavoj, that's not acceptable, and I agree.
Even though Slavoj and Nadya had never met, the writers' familiarity and the letters' raw emotions are striking. They write about work conditions and women's rights and totalitarianism and oppressive Russia and the hypocrisy of the Western world. Nadya details the illegal work conditions and punishment she endures in the camp, and Slavoj waxes political, identifying problems and offering solutions. But Slavoj continuously must apologize retroactively for explaining concepts to the obviously well-read and educated Nadya. Even leftist philosophers can mansplain.
As I sat down to write something about this slender book, I immediately thought of something my mother said to me. My parents and I were talking about women's rights, and I was getting heated and fevered when my mom said (and I paraphrase), "Why do you even care about this? You're not a woman." This came from a woman who fought her way up corporate ladders for 25 years, breaking glass floor after glass floor, and I was devastated. Maybe I was mansplaining too, and that's a scary thought, one that Slavoj and Nadya grapple with too.
They write with anger and sadness, but always with fervent hope for the future. Putin's totalitarianism shapes Nadya's every word, and the writing drips with context, enough to somehow escape the prison censors. She quotes and argues, and so does Slavoj, and they recognize that even the ability to argue is a political freedom not afforded to many in Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes. And yes, Western governments are hypocritical, buying Russian gas while at the same time denouncing Russia's crackdown on dissidents like Nadya. The same thing happened during the ongoing Ukrainian crisis – public threats and private dealing.
Is free speech worth imprisonment? To Nadya and Slavoj, it's a clear yes. Ideally, I agree, but I don't know if I could go to a Russian work camp. But I admire Slavoj and Nadya's (especially Nadya's) steadfast determination, unflinching principles, and ability to adapt to tough conditions and new ideas. The world needs more published, raw discourse. If not, we'll truly be stuck in the quagmire of modern life, and we'll solve nothing. To Nadya and Slavoj, that's not acceptable, and I agree.