One of the most radical philosophers of the twentieth century, Gilles Deleuze has become hugely influential in philosophy, cultural studies, literature, art, and architecture.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, French, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1990-2019. Currently residing in Novi, MI, teaching yoga and translating, co-director of the Deleuze Seminars archive, deleuze.cla.purdue.edu.
251114: i have read some books on deleuze, some by deleuze, some by deleuze and guattari- and thus the crowded many within the two. some works were then beyond me- and may remain so now. but all of them inspire a second look: so does this work. as a series of essays, some are very good, some are less. the simplest is to recount titles for the reader to directly read, not ignoring, only momentarily eliding, those topics not immediately useful:
part one, philosophies: 1) force, 2) expression, 3) difference, repetition, 4) desire. part two, encounters: 5) sense, series, 6) assemblage, 7) micro-politics, 8) becoming-woman, 9) the minor, 10) style, stutter, 11) logic of sensation, 12) cinema: movement-image-recognition-time. part three, folds: 13) from affection to soul, 14) folds and folding, 15) critical, clinical...
This is not the best entry to Deleuze. To be honest, I don't know what is. Deleuze's idea seems to be the kind that needs to be approached through other means, or stories. Mine was my Urban Design Theory professor's "complex assemblage system" that introduced me to Deleuze's assemblage theory, and it just sort of rolled on from there - from one curiosity to another. Once you are at this point, then this book becomes indispensable. You can tell that each academic writes each chapter with a lot of effort to make Deleuze's concepts easier to understand without reducing their complex nuances. My only suggestion is prepare different colour pens as your margin-scribble of texts and diagrams will only make the book look better!
Like all primers, this book was interesting but made the philosopher's thought seem far too simple to grasp. Now I need to go read some actual Deleuze.