Difference and Repetition

This brilliant exposition of the critique of identity is a classic in contemporary philosophy and one of Deleuze's most important works. Of fundamental importance to literary critics and philosophers,Difference and Repetition develops two central concepts—pure difference and complex repetition&mdasha;and shows how the two concepts are related. While difference implies divergence and decentering, repetition is associated with displacement and disguising. 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.

Columbia University Press

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.

Gilles Deleuze, one of France's leading philosophers, was Profesor of Philosophy at the University de Paris VIII until his retirement in 1987. His other works include What is Philosophy? and The Logic of Sense, both published by Columbia University Press.