Monday, November 17, 2008

Expression as action and production

"The incorporeal transformation is recognizable by its instaneousness, its immediacy, by the simultaneity of the statement expressing the transformation and the effect the transformation produces; that is why order-words are precisely dated, to the hour, minute, and second, and take effect the moment they are dated."

The notion that to speak of something both presupposes and creates that thing is a notion that seems both mind-boggling and obvious. A lot of what Deleuze and Guattari seem to be saying is that expression is both action and production- similar to the idea of desiring machines.

The fact that this presupposing creation is instantaneous is a little problematic for me simply because I think "instantaneous" is the wrong word choice. To me, instancy is rooted in the moment, in a crystallization of time; whereas Deleuze and Guattari seem to be advocating a temporality that is outside of the moment- more like the notion of the always-already.

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