Gilles Deleuze: Travels in Literature

by Mary Bryden

Overview

Gilles Deleuze's writing is permeated with references to literature. Do these serve simply as diversions within his philosophical investigations? On the contrary: for Deleuze, philosophers and literary writers are engaged in an allied writing enterprise, the former concerned with creating concepts, and the latter with creating characters. Deleuze repeatedly asserted that he made no claim to be a literary critic, and yet his writing contains a series of brilliantly original interactions with literary texts. This book provides sustained encounters with a small number of writers who fascinated Deleuze - T. E. Lawrence, Melville, D. H. Lawrence, Tournier, Beckett - and also notes his early interest in the writing of Helene Cixous. Putting to work his belief that 'every work is a journey', the study uses a transversal theme of travel and locomotion to demonstrate the vitality and productivity of Deleuzian thought when applied to literary texts.

About the Author:
Mary Bryden is Professor of European Literature (French) at Cardiff University, UK

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230801073
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	11/28/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	356 KB

About the Author

Mary Bryden is Professor of European Literature at Cardiff University, UK. She was previously Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Reading, and Co-Director of the Beckett International Foundation. Her extensive publications on Samuel Beckett and Gilles Deleuze include Samuel Beckett and the Idea of God, and the edited collection Deleuze and Religion.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations     vi
Acknowledgements     x
Introduction     1
Travelling by Camel: T. E. Lawrence and the Portability of Shame     11
Travel by Sea: Herman Melville     30
Travelling Inwards: D. H. Lawrence     50
Land-to-Air Travel: Michel Tournier     84
Travelling on Foot and Bicycle: Self-locomotion in Samuel Beckett     116
Afterword     155
Notes     162
Works Cited     175
Index     181

Editorial Reviews

'...this is a highly thoughtful book in every sense of the word. It is a pleasure to read and constitutes a very valuable addition to the discussion of Deleuze and literature.' - Mairéad Hanrahan, French Studies

From the Publisher