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Understanding Deleuze
'The best introduction to Deleuze, and to the collective writings of Deleuze and Guattari, available yet! Claire Colebrook has produced a truly accessible pathway into the labyrinthine enchantments offered for contemporary thought by Deleuzianism, making concepts clear, showing their political and theoretical complexity, elaborating their social and artistic relevance. A wonderful, lucid opening onto the new worlds of Deleuze.'
Elizabeth Grosz, Rutgers University
'A wonderfully clear introduction to key Deleuzian concepts and to their effectiveness in fields ranging from ethics and politics to cinema, literary and cultural studies. Claire Colebrook provides a series of effortless transitions from Deleuze's philosophical concerns (eg: difference, representation, desire and affect) to concrete problems in a variety of fields. This book is an excellent guide to an important body of critical thought.'
Paul Patton, Professor of Philosophy, University of NSW
A genuine attempt to think differently, Gilles Deleuze's work challenges, provokes and frustrates. Surprisingly practical as well as innovative, it is now being seen as a 'must read' for students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences. Claire Colebrook's Understanding Deleuze offers a comprehensive and very accessible introduction to his work. hink differently. It is built on the notion of an immanent ethics: how can we have a political and ethical theory without some external foundation such as the subject or morality? He argues that the only way we can do this is with a theory of the virtual, and he sees all life (not just cyberculture) as virtual. Deleuze goes further than Foucault or Derrida in questioning the boundaries of the subject and knowledge. For Deleuze perception extends beyond the human, to animals, machines and microorganisms.
Deleuze's writing is challenging and hard to read, and so far there is no introduction to his work. Claire Colebrook's primer offers an accessible introduction to the whole Deleuzian oeuvre, including the work he did with Guattari.
Elizabeth Grosz, Rutgers University
'A wonderfully clear introduction to key Deleuzian concepts and to their effectiveness in fields ranging from ethics and politics to cinema, literary and cultural studies. Claire Colebrook provides a series of effortless transitions from Deleuze's philosophical concerns (eg: difference, representation, desire and affect) to concrete problems in a variety of fields. This book is an excellent guide to an important body of critical thought.'
Paul Patton, Professor of Philosophy, University of NSW
A genuine attempt to think differently, Gilles Deleuze's work challenges, provokes and frustrates. Surprisingly practical as well as innovative, it is now being seen as a 'must read' for students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences. Claire Colebrook's Understanding Deleuze offers a comprehensive and very accessible introduction to his work. hink differently. It is built on the notion of an immanent ethics: how can we have a political and ethical theory without some external foundation such as the subject or morality? He argues that the only way we can do this is with a theory of the virtual, and he sees all life (not just cyberculture) as virtual. Deleuze goes further than Foucault or Derrida in questioning the boundaries of the subject and knowledge. For Deleuze perception extends beyond the human, to animals, machines and microorganisms.
Deleuze's writing is challenging and hard to read, and so far there is no introduction to his work. Claire Colebrook's primer offers an accessible introduction to the whole Deleuzian oeuvre, including the work he did with Guattari.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2002
33 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Claire Colebrook
45 books40 followersClaire Colebrook is an Australian cultural theorist, currently appointed Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University. She has published numerous works on Gilles Deleuze, visual art, poetry, queer theory, film studies, contemporary literature, theory, cultural studies and visual culture.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 17, 2024
This is quite a decent intro to this marvellous writer - a thinker whose abstract though politically acute meanderings are now required reading in many of our colleges and universities.
A teacher, initially (though he later soft-pedalled the fact) of liberation.
One of my good GR friends Lives for his writings!
As I did in the years preceding retirement, when I needed all the breaths of fresh air I could hyperventilate on, in my suffocatingly stultifying, entrenchedly draconian workplace as a senior middle manager.
Now, of course, it’s a decidedly different environment...
The Phiilistines have stolen the Ark.
Remember the book of Samuel? The children of Israel wanted a King, to replace the goodly and godly Judges who had previously ruled their country.
Samuel, of course, would choose the godly cowherd David.
The children of Israel, though, being at heart ungodly worshippers of Baal - remember the Golden Calf? - wanted a real man to be their king.
So they chose Saul, an inept two-face, who would keep the Ark of their people’s Covenant with God in safety. And Samuel, the godly seer-elder, reluctantly agreed.
Such was the divine right of kings. Cause might makes right. People listen when Power talks.
Well, today, the Philistines want to rule, again.
And the Ark is gone. It’s been sweet-talked out of existence - both the Ark and the divine authority that sustained it.
Soon, the King won’t even have to pay lip service to it.
Things fall apart: the center will not hold -
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
So said Yeats. But, of course, that’s not the real second coming. For THAT we have to watch and wait...
But where does that leave us?
Well, I was personally always rather a middlin’ sort of guy. For sure I was no liberationist, either - but better the devil you know than this new sort of devil you DON’T know.
I’d have taken Gilles Deleuze over Saul and the Philistines (good name for a Rock Band?) any day, back in the old days.
But now the good old days are gone.
If I really had my druthers, I’d do like the old lovesong says, for this dumb-downed world, and “say it with Music...”
Remember the Wagnerian epic Parsifal?
Richard Wagner didn’t want to use the traditional German spelling ‘Parzifal ’ because he wanted to make a point - or a pun, in German:
In that language the roots of the name Par-sifal are “pure” and “retarded. "
Well, we need a Parsifal now!
Not a wizard-worded prophet like Gilles Deleuze...
But a pure-minded idealist so immersed in truth that his vision pooh - poohs the staggering power of the Threat that hangs over us all!
Another Kennedy, maybe?
And who alone, perhaps, can save us from these foul fool-headed Philistines -
Like David felled Goliath -
And like now, as from the Cross, a Green Olive Branch might miraculously sprout.
A teacher, initially (though he later soft-pedalled the fact) of liberation.
One of my good GR friends Lives for his writings!
As I did in the years preceding retirement, when I needed all the breaths of fresh air I could hyperventilate on, in my suffocatingly stultifying, entrenchedly draconian workplace as a senior middle manager.
Now, of course, it’s a decidedly different environment...
The Phiilistines have stolen the Ark.
Remember the book of Samuel? The children of Israel wanted a King, to replace the goodly and godly Judges who had previously ruled their country.
Samuel, of course, would choose the godly cowherd David.
The children of Israel, though, being at heart ungodly worshippers of Baal - remember the Golden Calf? - wanted a real man to be their king.
So they chose Saul, an inept two-face, who would keep the Ark of their people’s Covenant with God in safety. And Samuel, the godly seer-elder, reluctantly agreed.
Such was the divine right of kings. Cause might makes right. People listen when Power talks.
Well, today, the Philistines want to rule, again.
And the Ark is gone. It’s been sweet-talked out of existence - both the Ark and the divine authority that sustained it.
Soon, the King won’t even have to pay lip service to it.
Things fall apart: the center will not hold -
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
So said Yeats. But, of course, that’s not the real second coming. For THAT we have to watch and wait...
But where does that leave us?
Well, I was personally always rather a middlin’ sort of guy. For sure I was no liberationist, either - but better the devil you know than this new sort of devil you DON’T know.
I’d have taken Gilles Deleuze over Saul and the Philistines (good name for a Rock Band?) any day, back in the old days.
But now the good old days are gone.
If I really had my druthers, I’d do like the old lovesong says, for this dumb-downed world, and “say it with Music...”
Remember the Wagnerian epic Parsifal?
Richard Wagner didn’t want to use the traditional German spelling ‘Parzifal ’ because he wanted to make a point - or a pun, in German:
In that language the roots of the name Par-sifal are “pure” and “retarded. "
Well, we need a Parsifal now!
Not a wizard-worded prophet like Gilles Deleuze...
But a pure-minded idealist so immersed in truth that his vision pooh - poohs the staggering power of the Threat that hangs over us all!
Another Kennedy, maybe?
And who alone, perhaps, can save us from these foul fool-headed Philistines -
Like David felled Goliath -
And like now, as from the Cross, a Green Olive Branch might miraculously sprout.
November 29, 2018
A great overview, will be reading again
November 25, 2018
Jag förstår inte. Det finns delar av denna boken som jag tycker om, som ger mig tankespjärn, igenkänning, sätter igång funderingar, men överlag så är jag inte rätt person att läsa en sådan här bok. Svårläst, svårförståeligt. Kanske för att Deleuze ÄR svårförståeligt, kanske för att jag har för lite vana av att läsa den här typen av texter.
https://herothecoach.com/2018/11/25/g...
https://herothecoach.com/2018/11/25/g...
February 20, 2016
A very sophisticated discussion of monist philosophy
December 30, 2022
A pretty good guide book to exotic philosophy of Deleuze. Having a background of philosophy and literary theory may come in handy to understand it better, but Colebrook wrote a book that is comprehensible to almost everyone. Though admittedly you may get confused and bewildered at some pages but the burden is mostly on the nature of Deleuze's philosophy rather than Colebrook guidance.
The focus of Colebrook is of mostly cultural concerns rather than of those philosophical. In that regard it's a complementary to Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction, another comprehensible and accessible book on introducing Deleuze which is mostly philosophical rather than cultural.
Recommended to any newbie who want to understand Deleuze
The focus of Colebrook is of mostly cultural concerns rather than of those philosophical. In that regard it's a complementary to Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction, another comprehensible and accessible book on introducing Deleuze which is mostly philosophical rather than cultural.
Recommended to any newbie who want to understand Deleuze
July 28, 2022
After around the 1/4th mark, this started to become one of the most circuitous and vague ‘primers’ that I’ve ever read. I do not have the will to decipher the indecipherable for the sake of trying to decipher.
November 27, 2022
By our examples, we reinforce negative, unrealistic stereotypes and values. ~ RdC
That said, aside from some questionable examples and choice words used by Professor Colebrook, this is a fairly comprehensive account of the philosophy of Deleuze, and Deleuze and Guattari.
That said, aside from some questionable examples and choice words used by Professor Colebrook, this is a fairly comprehensive account of the philosophy of Deleuze, and Deleuze and Guattari.
June 3, 2020
Really enjoyed the ideas in this book
Read
January 27, 2024Awful. I read it, but I barely understood. Way too difficult for those, who are not deep into modern philosophy.
October 27, 2025
Very helpful. I highly recommend this book and the Introduction to Deleuze book by Todd May.
March 7, 2020
Deleuze is notoriously challenging to wrap your head around. I really don't think this book helped enough in making me understand. It's not a bad book by any means, though - it exposes you to a lot of ideas, but without a solid background in philosophy and other helpful resources this book would be quite a challenge to really *get*.
Going into any book about philosophy assuming that it'll be a breeze wouldn't be particularly wise, but I hoped for something a bit more pedagogical.
Going into any book about philosophy assuming that it'll be a breeze wouldn't be particularly wise, but I hoped for something a bit more pedagogical.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews