Acid Horizon From Chaos to Creation: Deleuze, Francis Bacon, 'On Painting', and 'The Logic of Sensation' with Charles J. Stivale
Aug 14, 2025
Charles J. Stivale, a translator and scholar of Deleuze's works, dives into the philosophical depths of painting and chaos. He discusses how Deleuze's insights from his 1981 seminar reshape art's expressive forms, particularly through the lens of Francis Bacon. Stivale shares challenges faced while translating Deleuze's complex ideas, emphasizing the intricacies of bringing his thoughts to English audiences. The conversation traverses the intersections of chaos, catastrophe, and digital art, illustrating how these themes continue to influence contemporary artistic discourse.
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Translation Started As A Cleanup Job
- Charles Stivale recounts being asked to quality-check an unsolicited English translation of Deleuze's The Logic of Sense.
- He ended up reworking the manuscript over nine months and earned attribution when the book finally published.
Seminars Survived Via Digital Archives
- Deleuze allowed seminar transcriptions online but resisted print during his life, making posthumous lecture publication complex.
- Digital archives (Web Deleuze, La Voix Deleuze) and later NEH-funded projects enabled systematic transcription and translation.
Deleuze's Vocabulary Is Continuously Mutating
- Translating Deleuze is hard because his vocabulary mutates across lectures and texts.
- Stivale relies on collaborative teams and explanatory footnotes to track shifting technical terms.
