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Deleuze: A Philosophy of the Event: together with The Vocabulary of Deleuze
A new translation of two essential works on Deleuze, written by one of his contemporaries. From the publication of A Philosophy of the Event to his untimely death in 2006, François Zourabichvili was regarded as one of the most important new voices of contemporary philosophy in France. His work continues to make an essential contribution to Deleuze scholarship today. This edition makes two of Zourabichvili's most important writings on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze available in a single volume. A Philosophy of the Event (1994) is an exposition of Deleuze's philosophy as a whole, while the complementary Deleuze's Vocabulary (2003) approaches Deleuze's work through an analysis of key concepts in a dictionary form. This new translation is set to become an event within Deleuze Studies for many years to come. Key
- GenresPhilosophy
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 28, 2017
"If there is an orientation of the philosophy of Deleuze, this is it: the extinction of the term 'being' and therefore of ontology." These words, written early on in Francios Zourabichvili's monograph on Deleuze, might ring strangely to those for whom Deleuze has offered nothing less than an ontology for twenty-first century, a way of thinking about Being no longer bedevilled by the 'metaphysics of presence' or the impasses of 'ontotheology'. Yet Zourabichvili remains unequivocal: "There is no ontology in Deleuze." And it's precisely from this audacious starting point that Zourabichvili begins his magisterial reconstruction of Deleuze's thought, one spanning breadth and depth of his writings - both with and without Guattari - in a reading as rigorous as it is incisive.
Indeed, not only is Deleuze's philosophy bereft of an ontology, but the abandonment of ontological thought in Deleuze is in fact the very condition under which sense can be made of his complex claims regarding immanence, sense, representation, affectivity, and time. Such, at least, are the stakes and the force of Zourabichvili's grand pronouncements regarding the Deleuzian project. This seemingly peculiar reading - one that runs against much of the grain of Deleuze interpretation today - is nonetheless grounded in Zourabichvili's hyper-attentiveness to Deleuze's attempt to establish a new 'image of thought' (or 'manner of thinking', roughly), which does not presuppose an already-established affinity between thought and its object.
In other words, rather than supposing that thought is engendered by the movement of an internal 'will' which always has its goal in sight, for Deleuze as for Zourabichvili, thought is only ever instigated by the force of an 'encounter' - an infraction of the 'outside' which establishes the very parameters and possibilities of thought's travails (recall Nietzsche's quip: "A thought comes when 'it' wants, and not when 'I' want"). This 'involuntarist image of thought' constitutes for Zourbichvili something like the key to unlocking the Deleuzian corpus, and as such, The Philosophy of the Event can be read as nothing other than a dogged pursuit of the the way in which this idea ramifies itself across and through the baroque tapestry that is Deleuze's philosophical oeuvre.
Zourbichvili's Deleuze is thus a consummate heir of the 'critical turn' instigated by Kant, a philosopher who, rather than pose the question of Being, instead ceaselessly asks after the conditions of experience. Now, whether or not one is willing to follow Zourabichvili all the way to the ends that he reaches with this line of reading, one thing is certain: this is a Deleuze who demands to be confronted by anyone today who'd lay claim to his heritage and the philosophical pathways he advanced. If it's true, as Zourabichvili's writes here, that 'philosophy will not emerge from the Deleuzian adventure unscathed', neither will Deleuze remain unscathed by the adventure embarked upon by this remarkable book.
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A quick note on the Vocabulary: it's very close to something like a dictionary of (selected) Deleuzian terms, with Zourabichvili giving a two to five page gloss on each one. Given the condensed manner in which each term is explicated, the Vocabulary makes for some incredibly tough reading. Nonetheless, as Zourabichvili himself writes, this is in fact a very Deleuzian pedagogical move: "nothing seems more propitious than a lexicon spelling out Deleuze's concepts one by one, while underlining their reciprocal implications... Every concept participates in an act of thinking that displaces the field of intelligibility, modifying the conditions of the problem we pose ourselves." What better way to go about putting into practice the very encounters claimed here to be the kindling for thought?
Indeed, not only is Deleuze's philosophy bereft of an ontology, but the abandonment of ontological thought in Deleuze is in fact the very condition under which sense can be made of his complex claims regarding immanence, sense, representation, affectivity, and time. Such, at least, are the stakes and the force of Zourabichvili's grand pronouncements regarding the Deleuzian project. This seemingly peculiar reading - one that runs against much of the grain of Deleuze interpretation today - is nonetheless grounded in Zourabichvili's hyper-attentiveness to Deleuze's attempt to establish a new 'image of thought' (or 'manner of thinking', roughly), which does not presuppose an already-established affinity between thought and its object.
In other words, rather than supposing that thought is engendered by the movement of an internal 'will' which always has its goal in sight, for Deleuze as for Zourabichvili, thought is only ever instigated by the force of an 'encounter' - an infraction of the 'outside' which establishes the very parameters and possibilities of thought's travails (recall Nietzsche's quip: "A thought comes when 'it' wants, and not when 'I' want"). This 'involuntarist image of thought' constitutes for Zourbichvili something like the key to unlocking the Deleuzian corpus, and as such, The Philosophy of the Event can be read as nothing other than a dogged pursuit of the the way in which this idea ramifies itself across and through the baroque tapestry that is Deleuze's philosophical oeuvre.
Zourbichvili's Deleuze is thus a consummate heir of the 'critical turn' instigated by Kant, a philosopher who, rather than pose the question of Being, instead ceaselessly asks after the conditions of experience. Now, whether or not one is willing to follow Zourabichvili all the way to the ends that he reaches with this line of reading, one thing is certain: this is a Deleuze who demands to be confronted by anyone today who'd lay claim to his heritage and the philosophical pathways he advanced. If it's true, as Zourabichvili's writes here, that 'philosophy will not emerge from the Deleuzian adventure unscathed', neither will Deleuze remain unscathed by the adventure embarked upon by this remarkable book.
-
A quick note on the Vocabulary: it's very close to something like a dictionary of (selected) Deleuzian terms, with Zourabichvili giving a two to five page gloss on each one. Given the condensed manner in which each term is explicated, the Vocabulary makes for some incredibly tough reading. Nonetheless, as Zourabichvili himself writes, this is in fact a very Deleuzian pedagogical move: "nothing seems more propitious than a lexicon spelling out Deleuze's concepts one by one, while underlining their reciprocal implications... Every concept participates in an act of thinking that displaces the field of intelligibility, modifying the conditions of the problem we pose ourselves." What better way to go about putting into practice the very encounters claimed here to be the kindling for thought?
August 11, 2021
By far the most challenging of the books I've read in a while. François Zourabichvili set out on the task to explain the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze clearly and without reducing him to labels like empiricist, vitalist, monist, or Spinozist. Almost all of these terms are radically transformed in Deleuze's philosophy, fittingly for someone who argued the task of which was to create concepts.
When I began reading this work I had only a basic understanding of Deleuze, I frequently found the need to reread paragraphs as Zourabichvili explosively packs them with information and explanation. Thankfully, Kieran Aarons' and Daniel W. Smith & Gregg Lambert's introductions a very helpfully in presenting the core concerns of Zourabichvili's exposition. There was a moment when it all suddenly 'clicked', when I managed to grasp the new, when I could go back and see all the previously obscured threads of argument criss-crossing the texts.
I would have wished to add some concrete summary of Zourabichvili's Deleuze in this review, but finding myself writing, deleting, re-writing those passages over and over again I find it incredible how the former managed to fit so much into so few pages. What I can say however is that Deleuze is a philosopher that truly encapsulates his own injunction to critique from a position of the new, daring to do away with the axiomatic that predetermines the direction of thought. Instead, Deleuze fully embrace regression as a (for Zourabichvili) flight from the ontological question of being/Being to that of pre-individual singularities - of non-determined becomings shooting outwards in all directions. Thought as becoming affected by the outside of our milieus.
This is likely a work I'll be coming back to again and again to help elucidate topics in Deleuze's own works, which I now certainly feel comfortable tackling directly. Zourabichvili's premature passing is a true loss in contemporary philosophy.
When I began reading this work I had only a basic understanding of Deleuze, I frequently found the need to reread paragraphs as Zourabichvili explosively packs them with information and explanation. Thankfully, Kieran Aarons' and Daniel W. Smith & Gregg Lambert's introductions a very helpfully in presenting the core concerns of Zourabichvili's exposition. There was a moment when it all suddenly 'clicked', when I managed to grasp the new, when I could go back and see all the previously obscured threads of argument criss-crossing the texts.
I would have wished to add some concrete summary of Zourabichvili's Deleuze in this review, but finding myself writing, deleting, re-writing those passages over and over again I find it incredible how the former managed to fit so much into so few pages. What I can say however is that Deleuze is a philosopher that truly encapsulates his own injunction to critique from a position of the new, daring to do away with the axiomatic that predetermines the direction of thought. Instead, Deleuze fully embrace regression as a (for Zourabichvili) flight from the ontological question of being/Being to that of pre-individual singularities - of non-determined becomings shooting outwards in all directions. Thought as becoming affected by the outside of our milieus.
This is likely a work I'll be coming back to again and again to help elucidate topics in Deleuze's own works, which I now certainly feel comfortable tackling directly. Zourabichvili's premature passing is a true loss in contemporary philosophy.
June 18, 2021
Incrível.
Z faz uma introdução brilhante dos conceitos principais de Deleuze. Apesar de ser uma introdução densa , me ajudou muito a entender melhor várias coisas (principalmente do Diferença e Repetição, que estamos prestes a terminar a leitura). Um livro pra ler e re-ler, assim como as obras de Deleuze. Mesmo já tendo lido O anti-Édipo e Bergsonismo (e estar perto de acabar Diferença e Repetição e Mil Platôs), Z torna seu livro relevante quando costura momentos bem diferentes da obra de Deleuze em temas extremamente coerentes e potentes. Recomendo muito pra quem não conhece Deleuze, a quem já conhece e aos já aprofundados na obra. LEIAM!!!!!!!
Z faz uma introdução brilhante dos conceitos principais de Deleuze. Apesar de ser uma introdução densa , me ajudou muito a entender melhor várias coisas (principalmente do Diferença e Repetição, que estamos prestes a terminar a leitura). Um livro pra ler e re-ler, assim como as obras de Deleuze. Mesmo já tendo lido O anti-Édipo e Bergsonismo (e estar perto de acabar Diferença e Repetição e Mil Platôs), Z torna seu livro relevante quando costura momentos bem diferentes da obra de Deleuze em temas extremamente coerentes e potentes. Recomendo muito pra quem não conhece Deleuze, a quem já conhece e aos já aprofundados na obra. LEIAM!!!!!!!
September 8, 2023
Introducirse a Deleuze no es posible sino en un salto continuo. Saltos directos en el que no importa el origen ni el destino, sino cómo es la comunicación afectiva del "entre medio". Sin embargo, siempre que se quiera leer a alguien hablar y explicar cosas del francés de las uñas largas, este es su libro.
Posiblemente el mejor libro que he leído acerca de un autor. Por ello, en su sencillez, se convirtió en un clásico. Tengo que encontrarlo en físico, para destrozarlo tanto o más que el pdf en el que lo he leído.
Posiblemente el mejor libro que he leído acerca de un autor. Por ello, en su sencillez, se convirtió en un clásico. Tengo que encontrarlo en físico, para destrozarlo tanto o más que el pdf en el que lo he leído.
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September 18, 2025muy bueno para acompañar la lectura de la obra del uñas 👍
August 15, 2017
Essential to understanding Deleuze's joyful message.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews