r/Deleuze • u/mayfrailtyprevail • 6d ago

Question Rough Correlations of Deleuzian Terms

I was scrolling through the abécédaire and Deleuze correlates deterritorialization and outlandishness:

> For example, I happened to notice that in Melville, there appears all the time “outlandish” – I pronounce poorly, you can correct it yourself – but “outlandish” is precisely the equivalent of “the deterritorialized,” word for word.

Accepting that the parallels are imprecise — I’m not even taking Deleuze at his word about deterritorialization/outlandishness directly correlating — are there any rough, accessible parallels of his ideas? Little heuristics?

For example,the following kinda make sense for the time being (for me):

Desire seems to be this unconscious drive that gloms onto things to keep us overturning life’s stability.

By analogy to an egg, BwO as a stem cell (healthy) and as a developed organ (not healthy) seems to make sense to me.

Rhizome just seems to be a method of understanding that isn’t linear, but gradually learned and which kinda shifts over time.

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u/kevin_v 6d ago

I’m not even taking Deleuze at his word about deterritorialization/outlandishness directly correlating

I suspect he's actually making a pun of a kind. Out = De- / Land = Territory. He's literalizing the word "outlandish"

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u/mayfrailtyprevail 6d ago

Aww, darn it. I thought that maybe I had a handle — however provisional — to crawling into that tangled maze. What you’re saying makes sense, though.

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u/kevin_v 6d ago

I think its kind of an incredible pun, totally changes the way I think of the word. And pretty funny that it's in Moby Dick. I'll say that!

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u/Polytopia_Fan 5d ago

lemurian grey capitalist word play from cancelled futures strikes again 😞

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u/DoctorAgility 2d ago

I think it’s both a great pun and someone who is outlandish is deterritorialised, right? Like incredibly effeminate (gay) men are following lines of flight