Difference and Repetition

Difference and Repetition, a brilliant exposition of the critique of identity, has come to be considered a contemporary classic in philosophy and one of Deleuze's most original works. Successfully defended in 1969 as Deleuze's main thesis toward his Doctorat d'Etat at the Sorbonne, the work has been central in initiating the shift in French thought away from Hegel and Marx, towards Nietzsche and Freud. The text follows the development of two central concepts, those of pure difference and complex repetition. It shows how the two concepts are related - difference implying divergence and decentering, and repetition implying displacement and disguising. In its explication the work moves deftly between Hegel, Kierkegaard, Freud, Althusser, and Nietzsche to establish a fundamental critique of Western metaphysics . Difference and Repetition has become essential to the work of literary critics and philosophers alike, and this translation his been long awaited.

Of fundamental importance to literary critics and philosophers, Difference and Repetition develops two central concepts -- pure difference and complex repetition -- and shows how the two concepts are related. Central in initiating the shift in French thought away from Hegel and Marx toward Nietzsche and Freud, Difference and Repetition moves deftly to establish a fundamental critique of Western metaphysics.

Alan Schrift

This is a long-overdue, and skillful, translation of one of Deleuze´s most important and original works...It occupies an important place in Deleuze´s oeuvre as the first text, following a series of historical commentaries, in which he philosophizes on his own behalf. It occupies an equally important place in the evolution of French philosophy in the 20th century, as it articulates a profound critique of the philosophy of representation while constructing a metaphysics of difference freed from subordination to a logic of identity. While charting the development through the history of philosophy of the concepts of ‘pure difference´ and ‘complex repetition, ´ Deleuze proposes a new image of thought, which readers familiar with his later works will recognize. A difficult and challenging text that has done as much as any to initiate the philosophy of difference that characterizes much recent French thought, this book is one of the classics of recent European philosophy.

From the author of "Nietzsche and Philosophy", "Kant's Critical Philosophy", "Cinema I" and "Cinema II", and "Logic of Sense", this book provides an exposition of the critique of identity, and discusses two central concepts - pure difference and complex repetition.