Promotional Information

This brilliant book is much more than a sober reappraisal of Deleuze's tangled relations to the legacies of Freud and Lacan; it is a profoundly original reinterpretation of Deleuze that overturns the platitudes of standard Deleuzianism. Aaron Schuster re-innervates Deleuze's engagement with psychoanalysis and reveals the unexpected congruence between Deleuze's conception of desire as what is unlivable in life and Lacan's elaboration of the drive as what is undead in death. Challenging the ossification of Deleuze's legacy into the unthinking mantra 'create, affirm, become,' Schuster's witty and inventive reading uncovers a startlingly unfamiliar Deleuze: a partisan of pure complaint, a celebrant of inconsolable lamentation, and a philosopher of negativity beyond negation. -- Ray Brassier, Professor of Philosophy, American University of Beirut It is assumed that a choice must be made: Lacan or Deleuze? Refusing this blackmail, Schuster -- out of perspicacity rather than ambivalence or indecision -- decisively demonstrates why the two are most fruitfully read and appreciated in their relation to each other. In the process, he delivers a robust, fascinating, and humorous account of the paradoxes of the pleasure. A truly original and important work. -- Joan Copjec, Professor of Modern Culture and Media, Brown University If Lacan may have found it hard to read Deleuze because Deleuze was just too good, then this book will pose a similar challenge to all its readers. Schuster is right up there with the greatest amongst the new generation of continental philosophers. He failed not to be, and has given us a book whose magnificent troublesome pleasure will cause people to complain for years to come! -- Dany Nobus, Professor of Psychology and Psychoanalysis and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Brunel University London; Chair, Freud Museum London

About the Author

Aaron Schuster is a former Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies, Rijeka, Croatia, and at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry ICI Berlin. He is Head of the Theory Program at the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam.