Deleuze and the Schizoanalysis of Feminism

1. Schizoanalysis and feminism: An unlikely alliance with transformative potential

"My interest in an alliance between these two frameworks resides in the space between lived experiences and the unliveable and how this tension might be utilized by feminist theory to work through heteropatriarchal problems between bodies and orientations."

Bridging frameworks. Despite initial skepticism, there is potential for a productive alliance between Deleuze and Guattari's schizoanalysis and feminist theory. Both approaches seek to interrogate norms, create new becomings, and engage in world-making projects. This alliance offers a way to examine the tension between lived experiences and the unliveable, providing new tools for feminist theory to address heteropatriarchal issues.

Shared goals. The alliance between schizoanalysis and feminism focuses on:

• Challenging established structures and power dynamics
• Creating new ways of thinking and being
• Exploring the potential of marginalized positions
• Reorienting anxiety and discomfort into productive forces

2. Anxiety as a defining feature of feminine experience in patriarchal societies

"It is to feel, whether consciously or unconsciously, displaced by the policing of the female body and behavior through a highly contrived and often contradictory image of what femininity should be."

Feminine anxiety. In Western patriarchal societies, the experience of being a woman is often characterized by a pervasive sense of anxiety. This anxiety stems from:

• The othering of women in male-dominated structures
• Constant policing of female bodies and behaviors
• Contradictory expectations of femininity
• Fear and uncertainty associated with a marginal existence

Ambiguous femininity. For women who do not conform to normative definitions of femininity, this anxiety is often intensified. The experience of ambiguous feminine subjects raises questions about self-expression, agency, and the possibility of dismantling constructed subjecthood within patriarchal constraints.

3. Literature as a space for exploring feminine anxiety and creating new worlds

"Through these narratives, characters compose affective spaces in which their lives and emotions disrupt established structures by voicing and then re-orientating their marginalized positions."

Literary potential. Literature offers a unique space for examining and reimagining feminine experience. It allows for:

• The exploration of alternative feminine subjectivities
• The creation of affective spaces that challenge established structures
• The voicing and reorientation of marginalized positions
• The composition of new worlds and possibilities for feminine existence

Transformative power. By creating characters that occupy doubly marginalized spaces, authors can open up possibilities for expressing alternative feminine potentialities. These narratives have the power to disrupt male-dominated social orders and create new affective alliances.

4. Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway: A case study in feminine anxiety and becoming

"Clarissa clearly exposes herself in this moment as being misaligned with the normative structures that are supposed to produce a feeling of satisfaction or happiness; she is the affect alien."

Anxious femininity. Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway provides a rich exploration of feminine anxiety and the potential for transformation. The protagonist, Clarissa Dalloway, embodies:

• The tension between societal expectations and personal desires
• The experience of feeling invisible and disconnected from one's identity
• The struggle with normative feminine roles (wife, mother, hostess)

Moments of rupture. Throughout the novel, Clarissa experiences moments that disrupt her organized sense of self, opening up spaces for new possibilities and connections. These moments of molecular intensity reveal the potential for a shift away from molar modes of being and towards new forms of subjectivity.

5. The affect alien: Challenging normative structures of femininity and happiness

"When we feel pleasure from such [normative happy] objects, we are aligned; we are facing the right way. We become alienated—out of line with an affective community—when we do not experience pleasure from proximity to objects that are already attributed as being good."

Misalignment and alienation. The concept of the affect alien, introduced by Sara Ahmed, describes individuals who do not find happiness or satisfaction in normative structures and expectations. For women, this often means:

• Feeling disconnected from traditional feminine roles
• Experiencing discomfort with societal expectations of happiness
• Recognizing the misalignment between personal desires and social norms

Potential for transformation. The position of the affect alien, while uncomfortable, holds the potential for radical change. By refusing to orient themselves towards normative "happy objects," affect aliens can open up new spaces for reimagining feminine subjectivity and happiness.

6. Becoming-imperceptible: A radical reorientation of feminine subjectivity

"Clarissa has created a new, unknowable world, something future oriented and creatively destructive to her previous anxious self that was 'composed so for the world': an unfolding of her becoming-imperceptible."

Dismantling subjectivity. The concept of becoming-imperceptible, drawn from Deleuze and Guattari, offers a radical way to reimagine feminine subjectivity. It involves:

• Moving beyond fixed identities and roles
• Embracing multiplicity and fluidity
• Creating new, unknowable worlds and ways of being
• Disrupting established structures and expectations

Creative destruction. For Clarissa Dalloway, becoming-imperceptible involves a creative destruction of her previous anxious self. This process allows her to unfold into new possibilities, becoming unrecognizable in relation to her former self and permeating everything around her.

7. Clinical aesthetics: Art as a transformative force for desire and femininity

"The clinical effects of art and literature consist, then, in the becomings they enable, triggering the transversal movement of desire that undermines identity and homeostasis."

Art as clinical practice. Deleuze proposes an "aesthetic clinic" where artistic creation becomes a clinical undertaking. This approach:

• Recognizes the transformative potential of art and literature
• Focuses on the becomings enabled by creative works
• Undermines fixed identities and stable states
• Affirms passages of intensities that continually transform bodies and environments

Redefining health. Clinical aesthetics offers a different criterion for health than traditional medical discourse, one that is inextricable from aesthetic values and may be at odds with social norms and pleasure.

8. Hysteria and delirium: Productive processes for reimagining feminine desire

"Delirium and hysteria, then, offer a glimpse of the specific desire that drives both the psychoanalytic and aesthetic clinics, a feminine, elusive desire, we will see, much like an eternally 'late' and fleeting White Rabbit drives Alice after it, down a rabbit hole into a delirious Wonderland in Carroll's novel."

Productive madness. Schizoanalysis reframes hysteria and delirium as productive processes that:

• Shatter representation and reproduction
• Disclose desiring bodies beyond biological and ideological codification
• Offer glimpses of unique, unrecognized experiences
• Challenge civilizational programs for the body

Feminine desire. Both hysteria and delirium provide insights into a specifically feminine desire that defies meaning, representation, and consciousness. This elusive desire is crucial to the emergence of the aesthetic clinic and its potential for transformation.

9. Roni Horn's Wonderwater: Collective feminist writing as clinical-aesthetic practice

"Through original feminist tactics, their collective writing brings hysteria and delirium into clinic-aesthetic focus, taking these relevant elements of schizoanalysis in unprecedented, uncodified directions, as indicated by the title's displacement of Alice from Carroll's Wonderland to Wonderwater."

Collaborative creation. Horn's Wonderwater project exemplifies a collective feminist approach to clinical aesthetics. By inviting four feminist artists to annotate her book of titles, Horn creates a space for:

• Exploring hysteria and delirium through diverse artistic perspectives
• Taking schizoanalytic elements in new, uncodified directions
• Displacing familiar narratives (e.g., Alice in Wonderland) to create new possibilities

Deterritorialization. The project's displacement of Alice from Wonderland to Wonderwater, and its invitation for her to wander "offshore," demonstrates the potential for deterritorialization and the creation of new feminist tactics in clinical-aesthetic practice.

Last updated: August 10, 2024