Abstract

I've had an ongoing interest in the problems of caonicity and aesthetics, and have approached this complex of problems from various perspectives in my studies. Ultimately, I've decided to write my dissertation on Deleuze and Guattari's theory of minor literature, and more specifically, the utility of their thought in reconceptualizing problems in African-American aesthetics. ;Deleuze and Guattari are all too aware of the metaphysical assumption embedded in our basic conceptions about the world, and have therefore found it necessary to critique many deeply held philosophical assumptions about language, logic, and desire before they could identify the minor-becoming of literature. ;In my dissertation, I explore the points of antagonism between Deleuze and Guattari's theory of minor literature and many of the traditional assumptions of western metaphysics. According to Deleuze and Guattari, Western thought has been over-determined by its search for rational foundation and utterable truths. On the contrary, Deleuze and Guattari attempt to theorize the changing and the unutterable, the irrational and the complex. ;My project is threefold I want to illuminate the central theoretical concerns involved in Deleuze and Guattari's conception of minor literature ; I want to suggest why their theory of minor literature is more palatable than competing theories based on thematic content, structuro-political dynamics, and signifying relationships; and finally, I want to suggest a critical reformulation of their theory.