Gilles Deleuze, Postcolonial Theory, and the Philosophy of Limit

Does a philosopher have an 'identity'? What kind of 'identity' is mobilized when the work of a philosopher becomes a major reference for certain schools of thought, as in the case of Gilles Deleuze and postcolonial theory? Have the promoters of a generalized Deleuzeanism taken care their usage of his specialized work does him justice?

Few exponents of postcolonial and subaltern theories now dispute the influence that Deleuze's work exerted on the intellectuals and theorists who developed those theories. However, this book contends that postcolonial and subaltern theorists have engaged with Deleuzean thought in ways that have perhaps produced a long series of misunderstandings - for which Deleuze himself is not responsible. By engaging with recent innovations in North African culture and by examining the dissemination of Deleuze's identities across a broad range of postcolonial theory, Réda Bensmaïa shows that the 'encounter' between Deleuze and the postcolonial movement can only be understood through the idea of a 'transcendental' field, in which Deleuze and his postcolonial followers find themselves captured.

Auteur

Réda Bensmaïa is Professor Emeritus, Formerly University Professor of French and Francophone Literature, in the Department of French Studies and the Department of Comparative Literature at Brown University, USA. He has published extensively on French and Francophone literature of the 20th century as well as on film theory and contemporary philosophy.

Contenu

Series Foreword
Acknowledgements
Preface: Gilles Deleuze and How to Become a Stalker in Philosophy

1. Postcolonial Haecceities: On Deleuze's Names
2. The Subject of Art: Prolegomena to a Future Deleuzian Aesthetics
3. Cinéplastique(s): Deleuze on Élie Faure and Film Theory
4. On the "Spiritual Automaton," or Space and Time in Modern Cinema According to Gilles Deleuze
5. The Singularity of the Event: Gilles Deleuze, Paul Virilio, François Jullien
6. The Kafka-Effect: Considerations on the Limits of Interpretation in Deleuze and Guattari's Book on Kafka
7. On the Concept of 'Minor Literature': From Kafka to Kateb Yacine
8. Becoming-Animal, Becoming-Political in Rachid Boudjedra's L'Escargot Entêté

Notes
Bibliography
Index