Deleuze and the Diagram: Aesthetic Threads in Visual Organization

257 Pages·2012·1.74 MB·English

by  Jakub Zdebik

Deleuze and the Diagram

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Continuum Studies in Continental Philosophy
Continuum Studies in Continental Philosophy is a major monograph series from
Continuum. The series features fi rst-class scholarly research monographs across
the fi eld of Continental philosophy. Each work makes a major c ontribution to
the fi eld of philosophical research.
Adorno’s Concept of Life , Alastair Morgan
Badiou, Marion and St Paul , Adam Miller
Being and Number in Heidegger’s Thought , Michael Roubach
Deleuze and Guattari , Fadi Abou-Rihan
Deleuze and the Genesis of Representation , Joe Hughes
Deleuze and the Unconscious , Christian Kerslake
Deleuze, Guattari and the Production of the New , edited by Simon O’Sullivan and
Stephen Zepke
Derrida , Simon Morgan Wortham
Derrida and Disinterest , Sean Gaston
Derrida: Profanations , Patrick O’Connor
The Domestication of Derrida , Lorenzo Fabbri
Encountering Derrida , edited by Simon Morgan Wortham and Allison Weiner
Foucault’s Heidegger , Timothy Rayner
Gadamer and the Question of the Divine , Walter Lammi
Heidegger and a Metaphysics of Feeling , Sharin N. Elkholy
Heidegger and Aristotle , Michael Bowler
Heidegger and Logic , Greg Shirley
Heidegger and Nietzsche , Louis P. Blond
Heidegger and Philosophical Atheology , Peter S. Dillard
Heidegger Beyond Deconstruction , Michael Lewis
Heidegger, Politics and Climate Change , Ruth Irwin
Heidegger’s Early Philosophy , James Luchte
Idealism and Existentialism , Jon Stewart
Kant, Deleuze and Architectonics , Edward Willatt
Levinas and Camus , Tal Sessler
Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology , Kirk M. Besmer
Nietzsche, Nihilism and the Philosophy of the Future , edited by Jeffrey Metzger
Nietzsche’s Ethical Theory , Craig Dove
Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra , edited by James Luchte
The Philosophy of Exaggeration , Alexander Garcia Düttmann
Sartre’s Phenomenology , David Reisman
Time and Becoming in Nietzsche’s Thought , Robin Small
Who’s Afraid of Deleuze and Guattari? Gregg Lambert
Žižek and Heidegger , Thomas Brockelman
Žižek’s Dialectics , Fabio Vighi
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Deleuze and the Diagram
Aesthetic Threads in Visual Organization
Jakub Zdebik
Continuum Studies in Continental Philosophy

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© Jakub Zdebik 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
The author has asserted his/her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
E ISBN: 978-1-4411-7872-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zdebik, Jakub.
Deleuze and the diagram : aesthetic threads in visual organization / Jakub Zdebik.
pages cm. – (Continuum studies in Continental philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4411-1560-7 (hardcover) – ISBN 978-1-4411-7872-5 (ebook (pdf) 1. Deleuze,
Gilles, 1925–1995. 2. Aesthetics. 3. Art and philosophy. I. Title.
B2430.D454Z42 2012
194–dc23
2011049275
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain
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For Barbara

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Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction: What Is a Diagram? 1
1. System 24
2. Black Line, White Surface 66
3. Gilles Deleuze’s Diagram (Complicated by a Comparison
to Immanuel Kant’s Schema) 1 09
4. The Extraordinary Contraction 141
5. Skin, Aesthetics, Incarnation: Deleuze’s Diagram of
Francis Bacon – An Epilogue 178
Conclusion 193
Notes 196
Bibliography 2 24
Index 231
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Daniel Vaillancourt and Calin Mihailescu for their
invaluable guidance, feedback and encouragement. Gary Genosko has
been tremendously helpful with his commentaries, insights and advice.
Jonathan Murphy has been especially instrumental in the making of this
book: his comments were constructive, patient and helpful. I would like
to thank Andrew Pendakis for reading through the manuscript. Colette
Stoeber edited the manuscript with precision and effi cacy and for this
I thank her. I would like to thank Sarah Campbell, Colleen Coalter and
Rachel Eisenhauer at Continuum for the opportunity to publish my work
and for their support. Elżbieta, Zbigniew and Magda have always been
there and supported me and for this I thank them. And, of course, I would
like to thank most of all Barbara. Without her tireless and constant support
this book would not have been possible. I am forever in your debt.
Earlier versions of some chapters or chapter sections appeared in various
journals. Permission to reprint was kindly granted by The Semiotic Review of
Books , The Brock Review and ESC: English Studies in Canada .
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Introduction: What Is a Diagram?
A diagram is commonly understood as a drawing conveying information
about something incorporeal. From the Greek d iagramma , it means to mark
out by lines, to draw – where dia is through, across, apart and g raphein is to
write. The diagram is defi ned as a geometrical fi gure used to illustrate the-
orems. It can also be a sketch, a drawing or a plan that explains a thing by
outlining its parts and their relationships – basically, delineating its inner
workings. Finally, a diagram can be defi ned as a chart or a graph explain-
ing or illustrating ideas and displaying statistics.
A diagram can be seen in the form of three different types of drawings:
a plan, a map and a graph (or a schema). A plan represents a building that
is not yet built. A map represents terrains on which we have not yet trav-
elled. A graph displays relations between variable quantities. No matter
what form it takes as a representation, a diagram is a confi guration of lines,
whether they are drawn or written.
In a conceptual diagram, the lines marking out a space are abstract traits.
The diagram thus does not represent, but rather maps out possibilities
prior to their appearance, their representation. This new dimension lies
between the visible and the articulable, and therefore traits are not exactly
pictures or written language. A conceptual diagram is not like a fl ow chart,
for example, which represents economic fl uctuations in a schematic vis-
ual shorthand. The diagram does not resemble particular elements in an
imitative way; rather, it displays abstract functions that make up a system.
The diagram, then, is the dynamic, fl uctuating process occurring between
static structures. As a concept, it describes the fl exible, elastic, incorpo-
real functions before they settle into a defi nitive form. The diagrammatic
process could be imagined as a physical state or system being atomized
into incorporeal abstract traits and then reconfi gured into another state
or system. The fi rst and second system will be different, but their abstract
functioning will be the same.
The concept of the diagram revamps hylemorphic theory – the push and
pull between form and matter – as well as the relationship between con-
tent and expression, the connection between thought and image, and the
difference between representation and non-representation. It values the
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