New Critical Theory Interview Series Discusses Foucault, Deleuze

The New Left Project has started a new series of interviews about critical theory.

So far, Samuel Grove sat down with John Marks to discuss Foucault and Andrew Robinson to discuss the work of Deleuze.

While both are good, the Deleuze interview has the added benefit of being titled “A Revolution We Can All Dance To,” and a shout-out to Star Wars:

These are not the rhizomes you are looking for.

Deleuzian revolutionary desire isn’t the same as conscious desire.  It’s about specific desires people have, but it’s also a kind of general force, like the Force in Star Wars.  And it’s a term for ‘assemblages’, for the production of connections.  All the specific desires and assemblages are expressions of the underlying force of desire, its ‘differenciation’ as Deleuze says, its splitting into difference. But some of these expressions flow smoothly from the underlying force, and some of them turn against it, or get trapped in fixities which block it.  At the base level, desire is always revolutionary, because flows of becoming escape particular orders – desire as force is always revolutionary. But desires can be turned against themselves – turned into a desire to suppress desire.

Articles below:

A Revolution We Can All Dance To (Deleuze)

A Revolution We Can All Dance To Pt. 2 (Deleuze)

Things Don’t Have To Be This Way (Foucault)

Things Don’t Have To Be This Way Pt. 2 (Foucault)