Saturday, May 28, 2022

Sixth Series of Serialization

In this series Deleuze begins to look at the serial form which is necessarily realized in the simultaneity of at least two series often called signifier and signified. These two kinds of series stay in disequilibrium in regard to each other. The signifier has a value of excess, Delueze calls an extremely mobile empty place, the signified one of lack he calls a rapidly moving occupant without a place. A paradoxical or strange object ensures the relative displacement of the two series. Edgar Allen Poe's "The Purloined Letter" provides an illustration of two series within the story. The letter itself serves as the paradoxical element in both series.


   

The constant movement and motion described in these definitions and the relation/communication between signifier and signified can be visually exemplified by watching an action painter in action. Here is a video showing Ed Harris playing Jackson Pollock, the most well-known action painter. The painter's actions = the signifier series; the art on the canvas = the signified; the paint = the paradoxical element that allows the two to communicate. The action painting occurs from 1:20 - 5:15  in the video. The narration, particularly towards the end of this clip, also helps illustrate the signifier/signified comparison.


James Joyce gets his first real look in this chapter. A description of the methods in Ulysses and my comparison of it with Qabalah. Deleuze mentions a letter in Finnegans Wake that serves as a paradoxical element going between the chaos/cosmos series without clarifying where or how. I connect it with a passage on page 66 of Finnegans Wake. This blog by Peter Quadrino linked here explains further.


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