Irigaray & Deleuze: Experiments in Visceral Philosophy (Paperback)

by Tamsin Lorraine (Author) "We live in a world in which the specific form our bodies take very much matters; sex, race, physical anomalies, and any physically marked differences..." (more)
Key Phrases: creative engenderment, prepersonal singularities, harmonizing corporeal, Thousand Plateaus (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For Tamsin Lorraine, the works of Luce Irigaray and Gilles Deleuze open up new ways of thinking about subjectivity. Focusing on the affinities between the theorists' views--while addressing weaknesses of each--she offers both a cogent analysis of their often challenging writings on this topic and an accessible introduction to their philosophical projects. Through her readings she articulates an approach to subjectivity as an embodied, dynamic process, one that speaks to beliefs about personal identity as well as to the practical problems people face in their relations with one another. Lorraine begins by distinguishing between "conceptual" and "corporeal" considerations of subjectivity and by reviewing recent interdisciplinary efforts to theorize the body. She then turns to Irigaray and Deleuze, finding in the former's notion of the "feminine other" and in the latter's, unique conceptions of nomadic thinking inspiration for a model designed to overcome mind/body dualisms. Her analysis of Irigaray and Deleuze suggests a conception of humanity which amounts to a visceral philosophy--a way of thinking that is receptive to the fluxes of dynamic life forces.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080148586X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801485862
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,324,925 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Post-phenomenological, post-body, post-representation, May 10, 2000

By	Marco Polo Mint (Bristol, UK) - See all my reviews

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, February 15, 2004

By	David Abram - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.