Life Drawing: A Deleuzean Aesthetics of Existence

Gordon C. F. Bearn

Published by Fordham University Press 2013

Life Drawing

A Deleuzean Aesthetics of Existence

Gordon C. F. Bearn

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823292042

Overview
Contents

About this book

Deleuze’s publications have attracted enormous attention, but scant attention has been paid to the existential relevance of Deleuze’s writings. In the lineage of Nietzsche, Life Drawing develops a fully affirmative Deleuzean aesthetics of existence. For Foucault and Nehamas, the challenge of an aesthetics of existence is to make your life, in one way or another, a work of art. In contrast, Bearn argues that art is too narrow a concept to guide this kind of existential project. He turns instead to the more generous notion of beauty, but he argues that the philosophical tradition has mostly misconceived beauty in terms of perfection. Heraclitus and Kant are well-known exceptions to this mistake, and Bearn suggests that because Heraclitean becoming is beyond conceptual characterization, it promises a sensualized experience akin to what Kant called free beauty. In this new aesthetics of existence, the challenge is to become beautiful by releasing a Deleuzean becoming: becoming becoming. Bearn’s readings of philosophical texts—by Wittgenstein, Derrida, Plato, and others—will be of interest in their own right.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Quite a Crowd Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Overture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Yes and No Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
2. Learning to Swim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
3. Andante Vivace Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
4. Again and Again Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
5. Keep Everything in Sight at the Same Time Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
6. Desire without Desires Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
7. Becoming Becoming Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
8. Refusing Beauty; or, The Bruise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
9. An Ethics of Affection Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256
Cadenza Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	296
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 352
Illustrations
- Other: 21 Illustrations, black and white

eBook

Published: March 24, 2022
ISBN: 9780823292042