Anti-Oedipus II, Lecture 4, 28 May 1973

<p><em>The Deleuze Seminars</em> is a collection of audio recordings, transcriptions, and English translations of, and supplemental materials from, the lectures French philosopher Gilles Deleuze gave during his career at the University of Paris 8.</p>

<p>In his third year at Vincennes, Deleuze continues to expand the concepts developed for <em>Anti-Oedipus</em> with the long view of the second volume, <em>A Thousand Plateaus</em>, in progress. Moreover, alongside these sessions, Deleuze alone and with Guattari develop texts for publication that correspond directly to the seminar: Deleuze’s conference presentation, ‘Nomadic Thought’ for the July 1972 conference ‘Nietzsche aujourd’hui?’ at Cerisy-la-Salle is published in 1973; second, Deleuze and Guattari’s ‘Bilan-Programme pour machines désirantes’ appears in <em>Minuit </em>2 (January 1973), and then is included as an appendix to the revised edition of <em>Anti-Oedipus </em>(1975).</p>

<p>In session 4, 28 May 1973, which seems to follow directly from the previous one (despite the brief hiatus), Deleuze continues discussing how the body without organs is constituted, created, with multiplicities, flows, figures of content and expression, all entering into machinic assemblages. Then, referring to three authors’ work (Baudrillard, Jean-Pierre Faye and Foucault), he considers the production of statements, in the aesthetics of art auctions (Baudrillard), in terms of madness and the medical clinic starting in the nineteenth century (Foucault), and in the milieu of Nazi statements (Faye). Deleuze returns to a more detailed reading of Baudrillard and, discussing aspects of Baudrillard’s key points that he cannot fully understand, Deleuze concludes that for Baudrillard, it is castration, at the heart of desire, that produces statements, with the subject traversed by ambivalence, a cleavage within the subject producing statements.</p>

<p>No recording of this session is available currently, nor are the French transcripts at WebDeleuze of adequate quality. Hence the original French transcript provided here, in Open Data Text (odt) format, is from the Le Terrier web site. A revised French transcription of the WebDeleuze transcription and its new English translation in odt format is also included. [WebDeleuze was founded by Richard Pinhas -- a student in Deleuze's seminars -- who, with the Deleuze family's support, developed transcripts and translations of many of the seminars. Le Terrier is a multimedia site providing a small but important set of Deleuze transcripts, as well as documents by numerous other writers and artists, at http://www.le-terrier.net/index2.html.]</p>

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<p>Les Séminaires de Deleuze sont une collection d'enregistrements audio, de transcriptions et de traductions en anglais et de documents complémentaires des conférences que le philosophe français Gilles Deleuze a donné lors de sa carrière à l'Université de Paris 8.</p>

<p>Dans la séance 4, le 28 mai 1973, qui semble suivre directement la précédente (malgré la brève interruption), Deleuze continue de discuter de la manière dont le corps sans organes est constitué, créé, avec des multiplicités, des flux, des figures de contenu et d’expression, le tout entrant dans des assemblages machiniques. Puis, se référant au travail de trois auteurs (Baudrillard, Jean-Pierre Faye et Foucault), il considère la production d’énoncés, dans l’esthétique des ventes aux enchères d’art (Baudrillard), en termes de folie et de clinique médicale à partir du XIXe siècle (Foucault), et dans le milieu des énoncés nazis (Faye). Deleuze revient à une lecture plus détaillée de Baudrillard et, examinant des points clés chez Baudrillard qu’il ne peut pas entièrement comprendre, Deleuze conclut que pour Baudrillard, c’est la castration, au cœur du désir, qui produit des énoncés, avec le sujet traversé par l’ambivalence, un clivage au sein du sujet produisant des énoncés.</p>