Defenestration I'm only interested in wisdom, whatever that is. For this reason, I've found myself attracted to people's last works, partly to see how their thought/art has evolved and changed, and to feel where it went and/or was going before they died. Much has been made about mathematicians, in particular, peaking early.
I don't know any old people well. I have friends in their 40s & 50s, but that's the threshold. We don't often learn much directly from previous generations (ie. without the interlocution of texts), and it strikes me as one of our many potentially fatal flaws. Passing on knowledge is a special thing, and a possible route to wisdom.
With this in mind, I just read Deleuze's Death as an Event [.pdf]. Of particular interest is the point that in all the journalism that surrounded the philosopher's suicide, there was no analysis of A Thousand Plateaus which "Deleuze often presented as his most innovative and best work" (I agree entirely and more). Of course his history of philosophy was excellent, his treatments of cinema and literature (Kafka) are enlightening, and Anti-Oedipus was groundbreaking, but ATP is *new* and extends the tentacles of his thought in so many directions...it's the most important thing I've read as an adult, I solemnly swear. [link via Alamut; Paul Perry is on a Deleuze kick and I'm glad]
I Embrace You, My Heart Overflowing With the Finest Feelings
It is possible to see clear-cut continuities and discontinuities.
Where you see custard stains on my hair shirt I ask only
that you take account of your expenses,
render account of your conduct to yourselves,
but I don't want to trust you with these secrets straight away
- and they really are secrets!
Of course, now, something quite simple and perhaps
obvious has emerged. But I must stop here!
All the same I shall be glad to say more
about it another time.
-Marvin Gardens
