Gilles Deleuze did not directly address après-coup (Nachträglichkeit) in the way it is discussed within psychoanalytic frameworks (e.g., Freud, Lacan, or Laplanche). However, some of his concepts resonate with the principles underlying après-coup, particularly his ideas about time, memory, and the non-linear unfolding of meaning. Here are key connections where Deleuze’s philosophy aligns with or diverges from après-coup:
1. Time and Nonlinear Temporality:
• In “Difference and Repetition” and “Cinema 2: The Time-Image”, Deleuze develops a theory of time that moves beyond linear, chronological time. He distinguishes between the chronos (linear, chronological time) and aion (the time of becoming, where past and future coexist in the present).
• This nonlinear temporality resonates with après-coup, as both emphasize how the past is never fixed but is continuously reshaped by the present and future. For Deleuze, memory and meaning emerge from the dynamic interplay of these temporal layers.
2. The Virtual and the Actual:
• Deleuze’s concept of the virtual (the realm of potentiality and becoming) and its relationship to the actual (the manifest, concrete reality) echoes the deferred and retroactive dynamics of après-coup.
• In psychoanalysis, après-coup describes how an earlier event (the virtual) gains its significance only later, through a process of actualization in light of subsequent experiences. Deleuze’s ontology similarly suggests that the virtual past is continually reactivated and reconfigured in the actual present.
3. The Role of Repetition:
• In “Difference and Repetition,” Deleuze argues that repetition is not the mere recurrence of the same but a process that creates difference and meaning. This concept parallels après-coup, where the return to earlier experiences in light of new contexts generates new meanings.
• Both Deleuze and psychoanalysis share an interest in how meaning emerges not immediately but through the reworking and reactivation of earlier elements.
4. Deleuze’s Critique of Psychoanalysis:
• Deleuze, especially in collaboration with Félix Guattari (e.g., “Anti-Oedipus”), was critical of psychoanalysis, particularly its focus on the Oedipal complex and its interpretative frameworks. They sought to move beyond what they saw as the restrictive and hierarchical models of desire and meaning in psychoanalysis.
• Despite this critique, Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of “deterritorialization and reterritorialization” can be seen as a process akin to après-coup, where earlier experiences or structures are uprooted and transformed through new contexts and meanings.
5. Memory and the Event:
• In “The Logic of Sense,” Deleuze explores the nature of the event as something that transcends linear time. Events are not confined to the moment they occur but unfold through their effects and interpretations over time, much like the delayed significance in après-coup.
• Deleuze’s idea of memory, influenced by Bergson, also supports this connection. Memory is not a static repository of the past but a dynamic, creative process that constantly reshapes the past in response to the present.
6. Becoming and Retroactivity:
• For Deleuze, the self is not a fixed entity but a process of becoming, where identity and meaning are constantly reconfigured. This idea aligns with après-coup, which emphasizes how the past is never fully determined but is open to reinterpretation and transformation.
Conclusion:
While Deleuze does not explicitly use the term après-coup, many of his philosophical ideas—particularly his theories of time, memory, the event, and becoming—are compatible with the concept. Both Deleuze and the psychoanalytic notion of après-coup challenge linear understandings of time and causality, focusing instead on the retroactive, dynamic processes through which meaning and subjectivity are constructed. At the same time, Deleuze’s critique of psychoanalysis and his emphasis on creative processes and open systems differentiate his approach from the psychoanalytic framework.
