Third Deleuze meeting: 23 October 5pm by zoom

For our next meeting on 23 October, we are reading the rest of Chapter 1 (Difference in Itself), up to page 86 (notes to page 91). 

If you wish to join, please get in touch with alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk.

 Second meeting of reading Deleuze, Difference and Repetition

October 9, 2024 at 5pm by zoom

For our second meeting we will read up to the bottom of page 61 in Chapter 1 (French middle of page 69). 

Please get in touch with Alex Samely if you wish to take part (details below). 

 New Reading Academic Year 24–25

We meet by zoom fortnightly on Wednesdays at 5pm. Anybody who wants to join, get in touch with Alex Samely (alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk).

This year we will be reading Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition (trans. Paul Patton, London: Bloomsbury, 2014).

The provisional schedule of meetings is: 

Wed 5pm, by zoom except 4 Dec: 

25 September

9 October

23 October

6 November

20 November

4 December - face to face 

18 December (to be confirmed)

At our first meeting on 25 September, we will discuss the author's two prefaces and the "Introduction" to the book (which ends on page 35 in the Bloomsbury 2014 English). 

 Next meeting: Deleuze on Cinema

19 June 5pm by zoom

Following on from Benjamin's musings on art and cinema which we discussed at our last meeting, we will meet for the last time this Semester for a discussion of Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 1. The Movement-Image, trans. Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1986), pp. 1–28. 

If you wish to join, please get in touch with Alex Samely (alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk)

 Next meeting 5 June 5pm: 
 Benjamin, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

We will read Benjamin's article 'The work of art" for our next meeting. Text sources: 

English translation: in Benjamin, Illuminations, trans. Harry Zohn, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken, 1968, pp. 217–251. 

German original: "Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit" is in Walter Benjamin, Illuminationen. Ausgewählte Schriften, vol. 1 (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1977), pp. 136-169; also in: W. B., Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit..... Mit Ergänzungen aus der ersten und zweiten Fassung, ed. B. Lindner (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2018) 

If you wish to receive further information please let Alex know (alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk).

 Walter Benjamin's 'Theses on the Philosophy of History'

 Meeting 22 May 5pm by zoom

We are discussing Benjamin's 'Theses' in light of our recent reading of Husserl's 'Origin of Geometry' and Derrida's response to it. 

Probably the most accessible English translation is in Benjamin, Illuminations, trans. Harry Zohn, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken, 1968), pp. 253–264.

The equivalent German is in Illuminationen. Ausgewählte Schriften 1 (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1977 [1955]), pp. 251–262 (under the title 'Über den Begriff der Geschichte'). Also in Benjamin, Zur Kritik der Gewalt und andere Aufsätze (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp 1971), pp. 78–94.

In both editions, the 'Theses' are followed by a one-page piece under the title 'Theological-Political Fragment', which is related to it and is useful to read alongside. An English translation of that piece is available in Benjamin, Selected Writings. Volume 3: 1935–1938, ed. Howard Eiland and Michael W. Jennings (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press/Belknap, 2002), pp. 305–6. 

If you wish to join the group, please get in touch with alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk.  

Reading Derrida on Husserl's 'Origin of Geometry'

By zoom, 8 May 2024

For our next meeting we decided to read an excerpt from Derrida's book on Husserl's "Origin", to be followed in the meeting/s thereafter by some Benjamin, including his "Theses on the Philosophy of History". 

Pages 25-27, 107–117 (section VIII), and 133-153, of: Jacques Derrida, Edmund Husserl's Origin of Geometry. An Introduction, trans. John P. Leavey, Jr (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989 [First Bison Printing]) 

French original 1962; Carr's translation of the Husserl piece, which we read ourselves a few weeks ago, is reprinted in this book as well. 

If you wish to receive further information, please get in touch with alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk.