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Irigaray & Deleuze: Experiments in Visceral Philosophy

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There is a hole left by Western philosophy in its (absent) discourse of the body. Recent fascinations with Merleau-Ponty and a phenomenological approach only really go so far to rectify this, but require a reaffirmation of the subject and of subjectivity.

Deleuze (the first half of the book) and Irigaray (the second) are good antidotes to this. There is much there to investigate in terms of something more 'visceral', but this does not mean simply a 'philosophy of the body'. It discusses and develops ideas going around this set of problematics, looking at metaphors of fluidity and bodily experience, as well as theorisations of overcoming and transforming the bodily.

I am well-read in Deleuze, so Lorraine's treatment was a little basic, but would serve as a good introduction to some of the most important ideas, including the famous 'body without organs'. But I didn't know Irigaray well, and this book was a useful platform from which to jump into much of the relevant material. Lorraine quotes often and well, right from across the respective oeuvres, and so would be useful for someone who is not widely-read in this area to launch right in. It helps, too, that Lorraine writes clearly and understandably, and is able to convey some of the most complex of ideas in a comprehensible manner.

As a philosopher with particular interest in the body and the Earth, I found this an utterly splendid book. It is an utterly lucid presentation of the work of Irigaray and Deleuze -- especially compelling for the clarity of thought that it displays, and the real beauty and sensitivity of Lorraine's writing. One of the finest works of philosophical commentary that I've read in years, written by a thinker whose intelligence gleams with warmth and ethical intensity.