Friday, December 18, 2009

Kvond on Massumi: Inspired and Inspiring

updated: 12/18/09 at 6pm CST

Check out the really interesting series of posts on Brian Massumi's Parables of the Virtual over at Frames/Sing. This Deleuzian inspired book -- which is also inspiring, I think -- is also notoriously difficult. I think part of this difficulty (equally a pleasure in itself) stems from one of the strongest of Deleuzian thought-forms, which Massumi (our Deleuze translator par excellence) has clearly absorbed: namely, Deleuze's habit (welcome, I think) of stating/positing something to be the case (i.e., a particular ontological relation, or idea, etc.) and considering what flows from that position/statement. This Deleuzian concern for exploring/creating (rather than arguing stricto sensu for) concepts/relations can be disconcerting for many readers who might otherwise desire a constant relay between supposedly proven condition(al)s. To desire such a dialectics, we might say (with/alongside Deleuze), is already to be captured by those sedimented forms of intellection operative under the cultural rubric of "common sense." It is to disturb and compel us away from such thoughtless complacencies that so much of Deleuze's writings aim. Because I think Massumi's text equally targets these forms of "state philosophy," we are especially indebted to Kvond for offering such beautiful and generative -- generative because beautiful, but also beautifully generative -- postings. So far, we have the following topics:

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