D&G 2

2^nd conversation: On Deleuze’s

Coldness and Cruelty

A philosophical study on Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs

Michael Taormina and Rolando Pérez, Coordinators 

Forget classical philology, forget hermeneutics and forget all that non-sense about the deep meaning of a text!  Forget the priesthood of literary studies! Come and join the conversation on how a great contemporary philosopher transforms a literary text, such as Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs via the creation and use of philosophical concepts. Literary texts are not pretty objects of consumption; they are machinic arrangements that function in particular ways, and like philosophy they deal with problems. Venus in Furs, for one, creates and problematizes the masochist; and as Deleuze points out, the “masochist” corresponds to a very particular regime not to be confused with that of the sadist (of de Sade).  Therefore, the popular notion of “Sadomasochism” fails to take into account how the sadist and the masochist function in relation to one another, in a way that is not exactly dialectical.

When: Friday, December 12, 2014  
from   4:00-5:30 pm

Where: Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue, NYC

Department of Romance Languages, Room 1344, Hunter West

D&G 1

CONVERSATIONS:

ON THE WORK OF

GILLES DELEUZE & FÉLIX GUATTARI

1^st conversation: Rhizome/On the Line

            

We, Michael Taormina (French) and Rolando Pérez (Spanish) , professors in the Department of Romance Languages at Hunter College--who profess absolutely nothing about anything, but instead question just about everything--have been thinking for a long time of holding a series of informal conversations on the work of French philosophers, Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) and Félix Guattari (1930-1992). Why? Because we like them, and we like them simply because over the years we have connected with them in significant ways. But mostly because they have offered us ways of becoming in the world that are liberating and non-hierarchical. We begin with their essay, Rhizome, or On the Line because we have to begin somewhere, and for Deleuze anyway, an event always begins in the middle. Moreover, according to Deleuze and Guattari the best philosophy has always been done from the peripheries of philosophy: by writers, film directors, painters, composers, psychologists, etc. So we invite and welcome people from all fields to join our first conversation (of many) on the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari.

When: Friday, October 17, 2014   

from   4:00-5:30 pm

Where: Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue, NYC

Departmentof Romance Languages, Room 1344, Hunter West