The rise of populism, cynicism, fanaticism and fundamentalism challenges us to reconsider the problem of ressentiment. Characterized by Nietzsche as the self-poisoning of the will through internalising trauma in the form of a postponed and imaginary revenge, the concept of ressentiment is making a comeback in political discourse. Unlike resentment, the feeling of injustice, ressentiment is an intrinsically polemical notion. It implies a political drama in which there is no inherent good sense in its application and no universal criterion. Drawing on psychoanalysis, political theory, media theory and philosophy, this book examines a wide variety of ideological contexts, offering an examination of the divergent senses in which the concept of ressentiment is used today.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements Table of Contents Introduction Sjoerd van Tuinen Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands PART I Ressentiment as Involuntary Servitude 1. The Politics of Ressentiment and the Problem of Voluntary Servitude Saul Newman, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK 2. Servitude of Pain: Reflections on the Passivity and Activity of Affects in Spinoza's Ethics Marc Rölli, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland 3. The Problem of Ressentiment in Nietzsche and Deleuze`s Nietzsche Simon Scott, University of Warwick, UK 4. The Irenics of Ressentiment: From Good Sense to Common Sense Sjoerd van Tuinen, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands PART II Ressentiment and/or Envy 5. Envy: Sin of Sins, Painful Birth of Desire. Towards a Metapsychology of Ressentiment Frank Vande Veire, University of Ghent, Belgium 6. Resentment and Ressentiment, Dignity and Honour: A Genealogical Analysis Guido Vanheeswijck, University of Antwerp, Belgium 7. How the Other Becomes Our Beast. Postmodernity's Production of Ressentiment: a Mode D'emploi in Six Steps Robert Pfaller, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria 8. Failure as Triumph. The political Anthropology of the Death Drive in Slavoj Žižek Christoph Narholz, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, Germany PART III Ressentiment and Democracy 9. The Return of Ressentiment: the Dutch Debate on Right Wing Populism Merijn Oudenampsen, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands 10. Resentment and Democracy Sjaak Koenis, Maastricht University, The Netherlands 11. The Revenge of the Masses: Ressentiment or Amor Fati? Daniël de Zeeuw, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) The Netherlands 12. The Power of Ambivalence Sjoerd van Tuinen interviews Peter Sloterdijk, former Director of theKarlsruhe University of Arts and Design, Germany 13. A Commentary to Peter Sloterdijk's Remarks on Shakespeare's “The Merchant of Venice” (Efrain Kristal, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles, USA Index