The Fold: From Your Body to the Cosmos

by Laura U. Marks

In The Fold , Laura U. Marks offers a practical philosophy and aesthetic theory for living in an infinitely connected cosmos. Drawing on the theories of Leibniz, Glissant, Deleuze, and theoretical physicist David Bohm—who each conceive of the universe as being folded in on itself in myriad ways—Marks contends that the folds of the cosmos are entirely constituted of living beings. From humans to sandwiches to software to stars, every entity is alive and occupies its own private enclosure inside the cosmos. Through analyses of fiction, documentary, and experimental movies, interactive media, and everyday situations, Marks outlines embodied methods for detecting and augmenting the connections between each living entity and the cosmos. She shows that by affectively mediating with the ever-shifting folded relations within the cosmos, it is possible to build “soul-assemblages” that challenge information capitalism, colonialism, and other power structures and develop new connections with the infinite. With this guide for living within the enfolded and unfolding cosmos, Marks teaches readers to richly apprehend the world and to trace the processes of becoming that are immanent within the fold.

Genres: Philosophy

344 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2024

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My personal favorite point in the book was the idea of haptic visuality. Marks sees this experience as something important because it's a direct, bodily response to images. It’s not just about intellectually understanding what we see but feeling it in a way that touches us deeply and personally. It offers valuable insights into how we connect to the world around us through our senses and emotions. I found myself thinking about the films that have resonated with me on a deep level. I think a good example of this would be Wong Kar Wai’s work, particularly in his film In the Mood for Love where he uses both long shot and close-up shots that focus on textures, colors, and framing that invite viewers to “feel” images rather than just seeing them.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot pretend to have done justice to Marks's superb and multifaceted study of the fold, but I know that this will continue to be an important reference text for me moving forward.

[Alexander Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent "practical" metaphysical guide to the relationship between a phenomenological particular (e.g. "you") and the cosmos. The Fold is a book that takes its metaphysical cues from Deleuze's The Fold while stylistically performing as Deleuze's Spinoza: Practical Philosophy.

As Deleuze writes aesthetically about Leibniz's mathematical metaphysics, so does Marks on the same subject plus more contemporary physics and cinema. Although, it is clearly an aesthetic reading of mathematics and physics. If one wanted to read this book as a "metaphysics of mathematics/physics" they would likely walk away from this book disappointed.

In truth, this book focuses more on how to mindfully experience the cosmos through a media- and affect-theoretic lens. It also is a practical guide to how the political emerges, can be interpreted, and can be resisted from the point/fold of our position as well as how we can unfold the universe. It is more focused on exemplifying through cinema how one interprets the universe as it folds and unfolds around us, and how we play a part in that enfolding and the aestheticizing of this universe.

In total this is more of a "cinema theory" and practical aesthetics book than Deleuze's own Cinema. Here Marks makes clear that she is a media theorist first and foremost. She has genuine practical concerns that require new theory to be interpreted. As such, this can be approached as an affect theoretic media methodology, and less stylistically a "pure" Deleuzian metaphysical philosophy which might be inferred from the book's name.

I have my critiques of how she describes and theorizes "information" and "quantitative" (which are not minor considering how much of the book develops around nuances of these subjects) and their functional relationship to data and the empirical world. However, this book goes farther in re-theorizing troubling implications of these theories for quantitative communication and media than many practitioners in those fields ever would have done on their own. For this she may go without the gratitude she deserves as she might be written off by those aware of missteps around theories of information, but patience on this pays off for the careful reader. Where she trades off metaphysical precision related to information theory and computational metaphysics, she provides an unparalleled awareness of the vitalism in media which often suffers from a lack of consideration of Henri Bergson's warnings about overly prescribed digital representations of reality. Marks' work (here and elsewhere) continually reminds us of this. For that alone, this book will be irreplaceable on my shelf.

[Roy Kenagy]

ACADEMICS 2024_05_07

https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-fold

AUDIBLE-NO

KINDLE 28.45