The Exhausted Author(s): Gilles Deleuze and Anthony Uhlmann Reviewed work(s): Source: SubStance, Vol. 24, No.

3, Issue 78 (1995), pp. 3-28 Published by: University of Wisconsin Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3685005 . Accessed: 11/11/2012 20:25
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The Exhausted
GillesDeleuze

translated by Anthony Uhlmann1 I'm Exhausted is a wholelotmorethantired. "It'snotjusttiredness, in spiteoftheclimb."2 Thetired no longer for notjusttired, prepares any he therefore cannot realize the smallest (subjective): possibility possibility becauseyou neverrealizeall ofthe Butpossibility remains, (objective). itintobeingas yourealizesomeofit.Thetired you evenbring possible, all of the whiletheexhausted exhausts has onlyexhausted realization, no The can but the exhausted tired can no realize, longer longer possible. "That should theimpossible be askedofme,good,whatelse possibilitate. a could be askedof me?" (Unnamable 70). Thereis no morepossibility: he Does exhaust the because he is relentless himself Spinozism. possible becausehe has exhausted or is he exhausted thepossible? He exhausted, in exhausting himself thepossible, and viceversa.He exhausts exhausts thepossible. is not realized He has had donewiththe that which through all "for to end yetagain."3 beyond tiredness, possible, ofallpossibility. God is theoriginary, ortheensemble Thepossible is realized in the are whereas exderivative, tiredness, through only you before self-realization or realizing haustedbefore whatbirth, anything Whenyou realizesome of whatis soever("I gave up before birth").4 in it's relation to andpreferences: I puton certain goals, possible, projects shoes to go out and slippers to stayin. WhenI speak,whenI say for "it's daytime," the interlocutor "it's possible.. .," example, responds, toknowwhatpurpose I wishthedayto serve: becausehe is waiting I'm states the but possible, in goingoutbecauseit's daytime.. .5 Language And doubtless I can use theday to stayat it fora realization. preparing I canstayat homedue to someother home:or forthat matter possibility But therealization of thepossiblealwaysproceeds ("it is night-time"). because itpresupposes andgoalsthat exclusion, through preferences vary, is these It forever these all variations, substitutions, predecessors. replacing theseexclusive in...) disjunctions (daytime/night-time, goingout/staying
in theend. thatare tiring Exhaustionis altogether different: you combinetheset ofvariablesof a situation, all orderofpreference and all organizaprovidedyou renounce 3

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Gilles Deleuze

It is no longer so as togo outorstayin,and tionofgoal,all signification. makeuse ofdaysand nights. You no longer even realize, youno longer In in shoes out. That in, youstay though youaccomplish. slippers yougo fall into or into the does notmeanthat celebrated indifferentiation, you and you arenotpassive:you presson,buttoward identified contraries,6 You weretired but exhausted The nothing. by something, by nothing. the and distinction of terms even be more and subsist, may disjunctions butthedisconnected terms assert themselves morecrude, their through since all for are is Of distance, nondecomposable they good permutation. an event, ingeneral to that it is since it does it'senough say terms, possible, without with and abolishing nothappen therealto intermingling nothing is onlypossible whichit laysclaim.There existence. It is night, it is not is it not it is and I was my "Yes,I was myfather night, raining, raining.' Thedisjunction hasbecome butwithin inclusive, divides, everything son."8 and God, who is theensemble of thepossible, with itself, intermingles a each of is which modification. that time thing Nothing, games "[S]imple and now withthose"(Watt, 71). playswithspace,now withthesetoys, thepossible without are Beckett's it; protagonists playwith realizing they a possibility with tooinvolved that is more and more inkindto restricted whatis still careabout Thepermutation of"sucking in stones" happening. is one ofthebetter known texts. Evenas early as Murphy thehero Molloy overto thecombinatorial offivesmallbis[lacombinatoire] giveshimself but on of condition all order and of cuits, having vanquished preferential in this having conquered waythe120modesofthetotal permutability: Overcome fell forward onhisface inthe perspectives bythese Murphy of beside those biscuits which itcould as truly besaid as of the stars, grass,
from onediffered that butofwhich hecouldnotpartake intheir another,

hehadlearnt not fullness until toprefer one toany other. 57) any (Murphy,

I would in original], notto [English in theBeckettian formula of prefer All of Beckett's workis pervadedby exhaustive [exhaustives] Bartleby. that is tosayexhausting with itsseries of series, Watt, notably [Vpuisantes], footwear or of furniture (sock--stocking, boot--shoe--slipper), (tallboy-on itsfeet--on its head--onits dressing-table--night-table--washstand, itsback--on itsside, bed-door-window-fire: fifteen thousand face---on Watt the is serial (Watt, 200-202, novel, arrangements) great 204-206).9
where Mr. Knott,with no otherneed than to be withoutneed, does not reserveany combination fora singularuse thatwould exclude others-whose circumstances are yetto come.

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TheExhausted

thepossible, is the artor scienceof exhausting The combinatorial But the exhausted can exhaust the inclusive only through disjunctions. because he has renounced all or need,preference, goal significapossible, tion. Only the exhaustedis sufficiently disinterested, sufficiently he is with to tablesand Indeed, obliged replace projects scrupulous. him of What matters for the in sense. is order which to denuded programs which be able to do two do whathe must, and,following combinations, it is againnecessary--for Beckett's at once--when nothing. great things that exhaustion to logicis to display does contribution (exhaustivity) not a certain exhaustion: somewhat as Nietzsche occur without physiological thescientific without vitaldegeneration, showedthat idealdoesnotoccur forexample--the conscientious as in thecase of theMan and theleech, aboutthebrainof theleech.The man who wishedto knoweverything exhausts itsobject, butonlybecauseitssubject combinatorial is itself exandtheexhausted The exhaustive et hausted. Must l'exhaustel. [1'exhaustif to thecombinatorial, totrust oneself onebe exhausted is itthe or,indeed, exhausts leadsus toexhaustion, that oreventhetwo combinatorial us,that and exhaustion? Here discombinatorial again,inclusive together-the And is like the side and it the side wrong right [l'envers perhaps junctions. a senseora penetrating etl'endroit] ofa single science ofthepossible, thing: a fantastic with ofthe"I." What disjoined decomposition joinedorrather for thegreatest Blanchot Beckett: exactitude saysofMusilis equallytrue and themostextreme theindefinite ofmatheindeterminacy; exchange and thepursuit matical of theformless or the unformuformulations, and botharenecessary Thesearethetwosensesofexhaustion, in lated.1' order toabolish thereal. andcontent authors aretoopolite, themselMany the work and the death of the ves with integral proclaiming "I." Butyou in theabstract ifyou do notshow "howit is," how to makean remain and how theI decomposes, stench and (mistakes included), "inventory" ofMalone Dies.A doubleinnocence, beagonyincluded-inthemanner "The art of is not cause,as theexhausted says, combining my [l'dpuise(e)]" fault. It'sa curse from above.Fortherest I wouldsuggest notguilty."'12 itis a science Evenmorethanan art, that demands The longstudy. combiner "In a learned is seatedat hisschool-desk: thewreck school/Till ofbody/Slow dull decrepitude delirium/Or decayofblood/Testy ..."13 Not that or wreck come to on the decrepitude interrupt study; contrary, it as muchas they condition and accompany it: theexthey accomplish haustedremainsseated at the school-desk, "bowed head resting on handssitting on thetableandhead sitting on hands, headlevel hands,"14 withthetable. that Theposture oftheexhausted, Nacht undTrflume takes
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Deleuze Gilles

themostastonishing Beckett's damned provide up againand duplicates. sinceDante.Doubtless Macmann ofpostures, gaitsand positions gallery than and down than he felt that remarked sitting standing lying "happier a was suited tiredness than to this more to But 70). (Malone phrase sitting" exhaustion. Lyingdownis nevertheend,thelast word;it's thepenulrisk ifnottogetup, and there is toomuch ofbeing rested timate, enough, from To stopsomeone at leastto rollor crawl. crawling, youhavetoput a himin jarwhere, no longer abletostir hismembers, himin a hole,plant allowsno lying stirsomememories.'s Butexhaustion he will,however, remains at thetable, head in down and,whennight falls, empty sitting on crippled "Head sunk hands." "Onenight as he satathis hands, captive tosee hispasthands...;" hispastheada moment headon hands...Lift table andhead alonein a dark bowedon a board. . .," "hands "skull placepent is most horrible in a little It the which to await death, position heap."'6 force either to rise or lie for the the without down, signal watching sitting draw ourselves one last and lie make us time down that will up [coup] a can't can no stir even forever. recover, Seated, you you longer memory. in herrocking chair in this is still Therocker [laberceuse] imperfect regard, is that One should beshe/it what'srequired stop.'7 distinguish perhaps and couch6 the final. Beckett's oeuvre oeuvre which alone are For tween assis, between is a difference seatedexhaustion and thetiredness there that lies stuck. inallitsstates, orgets Tiredness affects action crawls whereas down, to theamnesic The seatedis thewitness exhaustion witness. onlyrelates which theother whiledeveloping around oftiredness. turns, every degree before other a He is there and before the "Was there born, being begins. I whenI toorevolved thus? have been time at this No, here, always sitting selfsame 269).Butwhyis theonewho is seatedon spot..." (Unnamable, for for thelookout sounds? for words, voices, names the How couldyou combine whathas no Language possible. himself facedwitha smallstrange name,theobject= X? Molloyfinds of "two crosses at their ofintersection, composed thing, joined, point bya andindiscernible bar"equally stable on itsfour bases(Molloy, 59).Future ifthey find oneinourruins, as is their will, wont, archaeologists, probably it a in as used or sacrifices. How couldit religious object interpret prayers ifwe don'tknowitsname, intoa combinatorial enter Ifit "knife-holder"? ofthecombinatorial to exhaust is theambition thepossible withwords, a metalanguage, it mustconstitute a veryspeciallanguagein however, ofobjects areidentical whichtherelations to therelations ofwords, and wouldno longer offer wordsthen realization to thepossible, butwould to themselves the its own exhaustible) give possible (precisely reality.
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TheExhausted

Wellon thewaytoinexistence. As to zerothe less.No more. "Minimally I [langue atomic in (IllSeen, 93).Let'scalllanguage I] this infinite" language where enumeration Beckett-disjunctive, abrupt, jerky, replaces proposirelations and combinatorial relations-alanguage tions, replace syntactic thepossiblewithwords, ofnames.Butifyou hopethusto exhaust you wordsthemselves; hencethenecessity mustequallyhope to exhaust for a for no that of another names but of II, metalanguage, language longer a language that no longer with combinable atoms butwith voices, operates Thevoicesarewavesor flows that blendable flows. direct and distribute When thepossible with words, youexhaust corpuscles. linguistic youtrim andwhen and chopatoms, thewords themselves, youexhaust youdry up It is this to have done theflow. now with that dominates words, problem, TheUnnamable on: a true workfrom Beckett's nota simple tiredsilence, "itis all very welltokeepsilence, nesswith butonehas because, talking, thekindofsilence onekeeps"Unnamable, also to consider What will 28).18 andhowmight itbe recognized? be thelastword, one mustrelatethepossiblilia To exhaustthe possible, or (objects the that to words them inclusive "things") designate through disjunctions, a combinatorial. To exhaust within to the words,one mustrelatethem whopronounce them-or Others emit secrete them-followrather, them, that andbecome flows distinct. Thissecond, alternately intermingle ingthe moment is not without to relation the first: it is verycomplex alwaysan since words Other whospeaks, havenotexpected/waited for me [nem'ont is nolanguage andthere other than theforeign; itis alwaysan pasattendu] of objects the"owner" thathe possesses It is stilla Other, by speaking. butin a newfashion: matter ofthepossible, theOthers arepossible worlds, a reality towhich voicesconfer is always that theforce variable, following that thevoiceshave,andrevocable, thesilences that make. following they are sometimes till sometimes fall dumb fora weak, they They strong, oftiredness). moment Now they and evenopposeone (a silence separate andnowthey The that is to worlds another, Others, merge. saythe possible with their with their that voices them the to objects, give only reality which The Others have no reality other theycan lay claim, compose"stories." than that which their voicesgivethem in their is MurIt world.'9 possible Mercier and all the others-"Mahood and Co." Watt, 82). (Unnamable, phy, Mahoodand company: howdo youputan endto them, their voicesand their stories? To exhaust in thisnew sense,you mustagain thepossible confront oftheexhaustive theproblem evenifitmeansfalling into series, an "aporia."20 inspeaking ofthem, buthowis You wouldhavetosucceed
that achieved without introducing yourself into the series, without
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Gilles Deleuze

their each of themagain, voices,without "prolonging" goingthrough without Watt. ..etc.,and falling Malone, beingin turn Murphy, Molloy, the on inexhaustible Mahood? I wouldhaveto on the other Or, hand, again oftheseries, arrive at I, notas a term butas itslimit, I theexhausted, the I all alone sitting in the dark,becomeWorm,"the antiunnamable, I couldonlyspeakof that Mahood,"denudedofall voice,so effectively with the voice of and could Mahood, myself onlybe Wormby again Mahood (Unnamable, 84). Aporia is composedof the inexbecoming haustible seriesof all theseexhausteds. "How manyof us are there alAnd who is forth at the moment? And to whom? together, finally? holding Andaboutwhat?" a wholethat 14).How do youimagine (ibid., willkeep How do you makea wholewiththeseries, company? goingup, going andtimes twoifonespeaks totheother, ortimes three ifonespeaks down, totheother ofstill another? It The willbe (How Is,128-29; Company). aporia solvedifyou consider that thelimit oftheseries is notat thelimit ofthe butperhaps between two between two voices or terms, terms, anywhere, ofvoice, intheflow, variations reached well before already youknowthat theseriesis exhausted, wellbefore there is no moreposyou learnthat a long timesince(Unnamable, no morestory, 115).Long since sibility, without without his it. The inexexhausted, itsbeingknown, knowing haustible MahoodandWorm theexhausted, theOther andI arethesame the same dead person, foreign language. There is therefore a language III [langue no longer relates lanIII] that toobjects that canbe enumerated and combined, norto guage[lelangage] but to immanent that never cease to move voices, limits transmitting or holes tears couldn't account them for, you about--hiatuses, attributing ifthey tosimple towelcome tiredness, didn't expand suddenly something from outside or elsewhere: for whenwordsgone.When "Blanks coming nohowon. Thenall seen as onlythen. Undimmed. All undimmed that wordsdim.Allso seenunsaid"(Worstward Thissomething seen Ho,124).21 orheardis calledImage, visualor aural, it is liberated from the provided itwas kept inbytheother chains twolanguages. Itis no longer a matter of a "whole"oftheseries with I (combinatorial imagining language imagination"sullied orofinventing stories ormaking inventories of byreason"), II (imagination memories withlanguage sullied the bymemory), although ofvoiceswillnever ceasetopierce us with unbearable memories, cruelty absurd stories orundesirable difficult totear all Itis extremely company.22 these adhesions from the so as to reach the of"Imaginaaway image point tion Dead Imagine."23 Itis extremely difficult tomakea pureimage, unsulbutimage, at the where it lied,thatis nothing arriving point suddenly
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TheExhausted

in all itssingularity, ofthepersonal, norofthe retaining nothing appears intothe indefinite and ascending as into a celestialstate.A rational, a mouth, some blueand a little a hand, woman, white..., a eyes ..., a little a smallfieldwithcrocuses little and greenwithwhiteand red stains, in a "little scenes the but not often no as if went yes light yes sheep: light onyesas ifyes... he callsthat thelife aboveyes... they arenotmemories
no" (HowIt Is, 97).24

an image from time totime To make ("it'sdoneI've madetheimage"), have can art, other ofthe music, any painting, goal,evenifthecontents In a are mediocre? quite porcelain sculpture image quiteimpoverished, by a brown-trunked centimeters stands Lichtenstein, tree, sixty high, topped a ballofgreen flanked cloudanda corner ofskyatdifferent with bya little and theright: what force! One asksnothing totheleft either more, heights ofBramvan Veldeor Beethoven. The imageis a little visualor refrain, time the has come: once "l'heure In aural, three frogs exquise..."25 Watt, their eachwith itsowncadence, and Krik Krak, Krek, songs, intermingle runthrough InFirst Beckett's books. the male (135-37). Love, Image-refrains a watches of as it and comes and the protagonist patch starry sky goes in a female low voice. The the doesn't protagonist sings pointis, image itself define thesublimeness ofitscontent, butthrough itsform-through the its"internal force to it make the voidor through tension"---or gathers toboreholes, toloosenthegrip ofwords, todry the of so up oozing voices, as to disengage itself from and reason: amlittle memory alogical image, in thevoid,now shivering in the nesic,almostaphasic,now standing The imageis notan object buta "process." We don'tunderstand open.26 thepowerofsuchimages, however thepoint of simple they appearfrom viewoftheobject. Thisis language that ofnames orofvoices, but III,neither that ofimages, Whatis tedious aboutthelanguage of sounding, coloring. is words thewayitis burdened with and stories: memories it calculations, can'thelp itself. It is, nevertheless, thatthepureimage veryimportant itself insert namesandvoices. Andsometimes this into into will language, in silence, occur ofan ordinary at themoment whenthe silence, bymeans voicesseemtohavedied.Butsometimes willhappenat thesignalof this in thecurrent an inducing term ofthevoice, Ping:"Pingimageonlyjust almost neverone secondlight timeblue and whitein thewind" (Ping, it is a verydistinctive Sometimes flat-toned 150).27 voice,as ifpredeterof an that or Presenter who all the describes mined, preexisting, Opener elements oftheimage tocome, which still lacksform.28 Andfinally, sometimes thevoicemanages tomaster itsrepugnances, itsloyalties, itsillwill, it becomes of and, draggedalongby music, speech, capablein its turn
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10

Gilles Deleuze

for itself the music andcolor a verbal as ina Lied, ormaking image, making can reunite wordsand of an image,as in a poem.29Language III, then, a I is that but voiceswith combination: images, following special language II ofthenovels, withWatt; itsmultiple routes language traces culminating suffuses the in the the bursts out novels (The Unnamable), theater, through theater radio.But language III, bornof thenovel(HowIt Is), traversing findsthe secret of its asWords, Days,Actwithout Catastrophe) (Happy a prerecorded an imagethat in eachcase in television, voicefor semblage a There oftaking is to the for works is in theprocess shape. specificity television.30 is notonly theimage, but"vastness," Thisoutside oflanguage space. III with not but with And onlyproceeds images, spaces. justas Language all thewhileremaining withtheindefinite, theimagemustcomply comthespace mustalwaysbe any-space-whatever determined, [une pletely disused, unassigned, espace although entirely quelconque], geometrically a circle with sidesanddiagonals, determined such-and-such with (a square a meters roundand sixteen such-and-such zones, cylinder "fifty high").31 is populated, itmayevenbe that which well-trodden, Any-space-whatever to all our pseudowe populateand treadupon,but it opposesitself itself: "neither herenorthere whereall the placesand defines qualified fare everfellcan never nearer to anywhere norfrom footsteps anywhere toEndYetAgain, further as theimagewouldappear 181).Just away"(For to theone who has madeit as a visualor auralrefrain, thespacewould refrain it as a propulsive ritournelle [une appearto theone who traverses All and form and these positions gaits. images decay.32 motrice]--postures, WiththePingsthat release that releasestrange imagesaremixed Jumps inspatial A wayofwalking movements is nolessa refrain directions. than a songor a little colored vision:an example others is the among gaitof who moves east his bust towards the north and Watt, byturning throwing the theright then busttowards thesouth the andtheleft south, legtowards thenorth this that 28).We recognize (Watt, leg towards gaitis exhaustive, all thecardinal sinceitencompasses the fourth the points, evidently being direction from whence onecomes without from further moving anywhere ofcovering all possible directions whilenevertheless away.It is a matter in a straight line.Anidentity oftheupright andtheflat, oftheplane going and thevolume. Thatis,theconsideration ofthespacegivesa newsense toexhaustion: and a newobject to exhaust thepotentialities ofany-spacewhatever. as longas itmakes therealization ofevents Spaceenjoys potentialities itprecedes andpotentiality itself tothe realization, then, possible: belongs
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TheExhausted

11

But wasn'tthisequallythecase fortheimage,whichalready possible. a specific means ofexhausting the Thistime itmight be possible? proposed said that an image, in thevoidoutside as wellas standing and also space, and memories, stories to one sideofwords, stores up a fantastic potential it that detonates in It is not the contents that are dissipating. meager energy in the but the and to image, important captive, ready exenergy--mad, thattheimagesneverlastlong.The imagesmerge plode-thatensures thecombustion, thedissipation withthedetonation, of their condensed Like ultimate never last and energy. they long, particles, Pingreleases almost never one second" (Ping,150). When the "image only just (The End, 68),itis notonly says"Enough, protagonist enough.., visions" becausehe is disgusted with butbecausethey haveephemeral them, only "No more bluetheblueis done"(HowIt Is, 106).3 We willnot existence. an entity invent that wouldbe Art, an imagelast:the capableofmaking the endures furtive moment of our our image pleasure, gaze ('"Istoodfor minutes Professor to gaze at it" [Disjecta, three before Pater's 123]). smile, a right There is a time for moment canappear, whenthey images, inserting thecombination of wordsand theflowof voices; themselves, breaking is a time for when there Winnie shecan singl'Heure feels images, exquise, neartheend,an hour butitis a moment closetothelast.Theberceuse very refrain is a propulsive that towards tends itsownend,hastening all ofthe that in toward end "faster and "shorter and faster," possible going it The energy of shorter," till, 141-42). presently,endsabruptly (Murphy, theimageis dissipative. Theimagequickly endsand dissipates becauseit is itself themeansofhaving done.It captures all ofthepossible so as to makeitleap.When onesays, "I'vemadetheimage," itis becausethis time itis finished, there isnomore The that us makes possibility. only uncertainty even on is that even are never sure of musicians, go painters, having inmaking the succeeded What hasnotreflected onhis image. great painter deathbed on havingfailedto makea singleimage,however smallor It is,rather, theend,theendofall possibility, that teaches us that simple? we havemadeit,that we areabouttomaketheimage. Anditis likewise for theimage hasa very short then life, space:if, bynature, space, perhaps, has a veryrestricted as that whichsqueezesWinnie, place,as restricted whenshe will say "la terre estjuste"["Theearth is verytight"] (Happy and Godard"juste uneimage." Thespaceis no sooner made 40-41), Days, a "pinhole"likethe into than itcontracts in a micro-fraction of time: image an identical certain darkthatalonecertain ashescan"; dark,"againthat "pingsilence pingover."34
fourways ofexhausting Thereare,then, thepossible:

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12
- form exhaustive seriesof things - dryup theflowofvoices

Gilles Deleuze

- extenuate thepotentialities ofspace - dissipate thepoweroftheimage. Theexhausted is theexhaustive, thedriedup,theextenuated and the The in last two united are the of III, dissipated. ways language language in and It remains with butrises images spaces. relationship language, up or initsholes, becomes taut itsgaps,oritssilences. Now itoperates through now it makesuse of a recorded voicethat silence, it,and still presents it forces to become further, movement, speech image, song, poem.Doubtinthenovels lessitwas born andnovellas andpassedthrough thetheater, itcomes butitis in television that intoitsown,distinct from thefirst two. will be with silence and music. Trio Ghost willbe Quad Space eventually voiceandmusic. ...but the will Spacewith presenting clouds.., be Imagewith voiceand poem.Nacht undTrilume willbe Imagewithsilence, songand music. is a quadrilateral, a square. While words, voice, Quad, lacking lacking it is perfectly certain it has no other determined, dimensions, possessing than itsformal determinations vertices and censingularities, equidistant oroccupants no other contents than thefour similar who ter, protagonists itceaselessly. traverse Itis a closed, defined, globally any-space-whatever. Eventheprotagonists, who are short, and asexual, and wearlong slight, have to them but thefactthat cowls, with individualize gowns nothing a vertex each departs from as from a cardinal point, any-protagonistswhatever who traverse the square,each following a givencourseand You canalways direction. causethem a distinguishing toaffect color, light, Butthisis a meansofrecognizing in sound,or soundoffootsteps. them; themselves are in themselves areafdetermined, they onlyspatially they fected other than their andposition. order Theseareunaffected bynothing in an unaffectable that is essentially protagonists space.Quadis a refrain with the ofslippers for music-like thesoundofrats. propulsive, shuffling ofthe Theform refrain is theseries, which is nolonger concerned here with to be but with The series has combined, solely objects objectless journey.35 an order, towhich itwaxesand wanes, waxesagainand wanes according the and oftheprotagonists at again, following appearance disappearance thefour corners ofthesquare:itis a [musical] canon. It has a continuous course thesuccession ofsegments traversed: side side,diagonal, following ... etc.It has an ensemble that Beckett describes as follows: "Fourpossible solosallgiven. Sixpossible duosallgiven Fourpossible all trios (two twice).
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TheExhausted

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a quartet The order, four thecourse, twice" times. (Quad451-452);36 given inthat allthe more itis render the movement andtheensemble, inexorable like a belt that makes and without moving objects appear object, conveyor disappear. clear: itis concerned with text is perfectly Beckett's exhausting space. theprotagonists tire themselves out and willdrag no doubtthat There's is a minor their more andmore. Buttiredness oftheenterprise, aspect steps oftimes a possible combination is realized concerns thenumber which (for are realized the four trios the two of the duos twice, twice, quartet example, Theprotagonists tire tothenumber ofrealizations. four times). according of thisnumber, But thepossibleis accomplished independently by the who exhaust it. The is this: in relation to exhausted problem protagonists is not same as the define itself? The whatcanexhaustion (which tiredness) ofthesquare,alongthe realizeand tireat thefour corners protagonists and Butthey at thecenter of sides,and thediagonals. accomplish exhaust one where thediagonals cross. is where thesquare, the That, might say, ofthesquarelies.Potentiality is a doublepossibility. It is the potentiality an that that itself is realized in event is the possible spaceunder possibility thatsomething realizesitself and theposconsideration. The possibility thatsome place realizesit.The potentiality of thesquareis the sibility that the four bodies it will collide-two, that inhabit moving possibility ofthem-following or four theorder and thecourse oftheseries.37 three thatplace wherethey The center is precisely cometogether; and might their an their is not event but the collision, others, meeting, among only of event--the of thecorresponding possibility potentiality space.To exhaustspaceis toextenuate itspotentiality through rendering anymeeting The solution to the from now on is in this found impossible. problem nimble central this of the this aside, disconnecting, sway swerving hips, this this this orlittle hiatus, punctuation, syncope, rapidsidestep jumpthat foresees thecoming and averts it.Repetition takesawaynothing together ofthedecisive, absolute character ofsucha gesture. Thebodiesavoideach other but theyavoid thecenter respectively, absolutely. Theysidestep at center to avoid the each but each also in other, together sidesteps toavoidthecenter. solitude Itis thespacethat is depotentialized, "track.. .ust wide enough forone.On itno twoevermeet"(Closed 199J. Space, 200). Thegeneral similarities between thework of Quad is closetoa ballet. Beckett and modern ballet arenumerous: theabandonment ofall privilegtheagglutination ofbodiesas a meansofkeeping stature; ingofvertical
of any-space-whatever fordesignatedareas; the upright;the substitution
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14

Gilles Deleuze

ofa "gestus" as a logicofpostures all story substitution and positions for or narrative; thequestfora minimalism; theappropriation by danceof and its the of dissonances.... It is accidents; walking acquisition gestural that Beckett thewalkers notsurprising that ofQuadhave "some requests It is needednotonlyforthewalking ballettraining." butthehiatus, the the dissonance. punctuation, A work It is also closetoa musical work. "Ghost Trio" byBeethoven, television and givesititstitle. The appearsin another piecefor byBeckett oftheTrio, secondmovement which Beckett us in thecomuses,assists and recomposition ofa theme oftwomotifs, of position, decomposition tworefrains. It is liketheincrease and decrease ofa moreor less dense melodic and harmonic its auralsurface traversed lines, along compound a movement. But there an is continual, obsessive, obsessional, by altogether ofcentral different as well:a sort erosion that first arisesas a threat thing thebass andis expressed in thetrill orwavering ofthepiano, as if among onewereaboutto abandon thekeyfor another orfor the nothing, tearing a into dimension where thedissonances would surface, ghostly plunging comeonlytopunctuate thesilence. AndBeckett underlines justthiseach he speaksofBeethoven: a previously time unheard-of artofdissonances, a a "a of a wavering, hiatus, punctuation dehiscence,"stress given bywhat is swallowed, a gap that other than opens, slipsaway, punctuates nothing thesilence ofthelatest if the Trio these But, ending.38 effectively displays traits, Quad,to whichit is so well whywas it notused to accompany suited? is itusedtopunctuate another because there is Why piece? Perhaps no needfor to illustrate a in music its Quad which, developing differently has a roleelsewhere. dimension, ghostly Trio Ghost includes voiceand music. It is also concerned withspace, its a in but different manner from exhausting potentialities, completely theareaseems that Quad.Atfirst it: designated bytheelements occupy the thewalls,thedoor,thewindow, thepallet. Butthese elements are floor, and the voice names them in turn while the camera defunctionalized, inclose-up-homogenous showsthem grey rectangular parts homologous toan identical nuances ofgrey: inorder of space, distinguished only bythe a of a of a door without an succession,specimen floor,specimen wall, knob, a palletseenfrom above.Theseobjects in thespaceare opaque window, identical toparts ofspace.Itis therefore inthe strictly any-space-whatever defined but it is detersense,completely determined, previously locally notglobally, as in Quad:a succession ofuniform bands.It is mined, grey
in fragmentation, in close-ups,and as RobertBresson any-space-whatever
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forthefilmic "is indispensable ifyou indicated fragmentation approach,

do not want to fall into representation ... Isolate the parts.Make them

a newinterdependence" as a way ofgiving them (Bresson, independent them to a Disconnect allow new connection. is the 95-96). Fragmentation ofspace, first thebackroad. taking stepin a depotentialization Ofcourse theglobalspacehad first beengiven inlongshot. Buteven where thecamera hereitis notas in Quad, is fixed and raised, exterior to thespacein a closedshot, andoperating, through necessity, continuously. a globalspacecanbe exhausted Ofcourse the through simple powerofa fixed immobile and a with A famous zoom. camera, continuous, operating is Wavelength zoomexplores Snow:a 45-minute example byMichael anythe events it encounters its rectangular-space-whatever, rejecting during a them with existence by onlyendowing progression ghostly (through for until itjoinsthebackground wall negative superimposition, example) thatis decorated withan imageof empty sea, intowhichall space is It is, one might swallowed. of thediminution of a pure say,"thestory But from the fact that Beckett does not like potentiality."39 apart special theconditions oftheproblem, from thepoint ofviewofa localized effects, that thecamera be mobile, with and reconstruction, shots, require traveling cuts: with is notedand quantified. Thisis bediscontinuous, everything cause thespace oftheTrio is onlydetermined on three sides,east,north and west, thesouth wallofthecamera. It beingconstituted bythemobile is nottheclosedspace ofQuad,witha singlecentral but a potentiality, thedoor to theeast,thewindowto the space withthree potentialities, thepalletto thewest.And as theseare parts ofspace,themovenorth, ments ofthecamera and thecutsconstitute thepassagefrom one to the as wellas their their all those bands other, succession, substitutions, grey that constitute to the of each localized treatspaceaccording requirements ment. Butalso (andthese arethedepths all these ofTrio), into parts plunge thevoid,eachin itsownway,eachsummoning thevoidintowhich they the door an onto obscure thewindowlooking corridor, plunge, opening out ontoa rainy thetotally flat itsprivate void. night, palletsummoning Andthey do this so wellthat thepassageandsuccession from onepartto another serves toconnect orlink voids. Suchis thenew, only unfathomable or the second of It connection, properly ghostly, step depotentialization. toBeethoven's music where that music topunctuate corresponds manages thesilence and where a "pathofsoundssuspended in giddy no heights" links but "unfathomable of This is longer anything abysses silence."40 parthe case in Beethoven's and the "Trio,"wherethe wavering ticularly

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16

Deleuze Gilles

that tremolo alreadyindicatesilence'sgaps and the aural connection ofdissonances. attheprice them, bridges the recorded voice of a woman,off-screen, This is the situation: ina murmur theprotagonist, announces that prophesying, predetermined, closetothedoorand her"(Trio, on a stool he hears "willthink 410).Seated a smallcassette-player, theprotagonist getsup, putsdownthe clutching a or and like watchman sentinel, ghostly night approaches cassette-player, the door, thenthe window,thenthe pallet.Thereare startings-over, andthemusic from comes thecassettetotheseated returns only position, is over the machine. when the This protagonist seated,leaning player which was Beckett's is notunlike EhJoe, situation first piecefor general between it and Trioare greater still.For But thedifferences television. in voice did not the female the and Eh Joe, present objects, these example, flat andequivalent ofspace;further, besides werenotmixed up with parts an interior was a cupboard that introduced thedoorand windowthere and thebed had spacebelowit rather thanbeinga depthto theroom, was the The protagonist tracked, and function of the palleton thefloor. buttoremind, tomenace, topersecute. voicewas nottonameorannounce, II Thevoicehad intentions, Thiswas still it evoked intonations, language that were unbearable to the memories into protagonist, personal delving memorial dimension without this dimenbeingabletoriseto theghostly Thelatter sionofan impersonal indefinite. dimension is onlyreached in a woman, a man, Trio: anda child, without Ghost coordinates. anypersonal a type EhJoe toTrio, ofvocalandspatial From occurs that purification gives a the of thefirst more and introduction piece appearance being preparation to the worksfortelevision thanfullybeing part of them.It is not in thepresent volume[Beckett: Quadetautres reproduced pieces pourla suivi de In Gilles the voice Deleuze]. Trio, par murmuring tWl6vision, L'dpuise hasbecome without without and neutral, blank, intentions, resonance, the without underneath ordepth, no any-whatever, spacehas become having than its other own It is the of last objects parts. step depotentialization-a sincethevoicedries doublestep, at thesametime that the up thepossible itspotentialities. indicates thatthey are the space extenuates Everything same-thewoman whospeaks from andshewhomight burst into outside, thetwo-theoff-screen thisspace.However, between voiceand thepure a lineofseparation, is a scission, field ofspace-there as inGreek theater, the cinema of or the Straubs and Duras.41 N6, It is like Japanese Marguerite a a film and radio silent a form new of play playing simultaneously: inclusive itis likea shotbreak-down where vocal Or,rather, disjunction. areinscribed silences on onesideandspatial voidson theother Itis (cuts).
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TheExhausted

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music is hurled, thevoidsand the shotthat intothis connecting phantom a ridge-line likea limit toinfinity. silences, following thewoman, thevoice,thespace,themusic; are numerous: The trios ofthecamera; thedoorto thethree theman,thechild; positions principal three tothenorth, the tothewest, thewindow theeast, pallet potentialities hehears her"(410).Butwe ofspace.... Thevoicesays:"He willnowthink this true inEhJoe, he afraid and feels was think that is must not menaced; thewoman; on thecontrary. He no longer butnothere. hopesorwaitsfor is organized end.All oftheTrio tohave He onlyawaitstheend,thelatest for is at from EhJoe), wished hand: music the end (absent done, devoutly a a from transmutation from is inseparable Beethoven's into silence, music, In truth, in thevoidsthat it connects. insofar as he to abolition tendency in sources as simple, similar blind and thethree has treated floating parts, all thepotentialities has extenuated ofthespace: thevoid,theprotagonist woman Even the is that arrival the the hehasmade of impossible. pallet so flat toitsvoid.Whydoestheprotagonist nevertheless recomitbearswitness thevoicehas gonesilent, mence, whydoes he againgo to the longafter it is thehead ofthepallet? We haveseenthisbefore; door,thewindow, he able before is to understand it becausetheendwillhave long happened will continue untiltheorder has happened:"everything automatically, arrives to stopeverything" silent 115).And whenthelittle (Unnamable, it is not to announce that the woman will not suddenly messenger appears, if a it were as of but the bad to awaited be coming, news, piece bring long sinceeverything is truly At leastthe orderto stopeverything, finished. a has means of that the is at hand. III is end sensing protagonist Language a of but There is mirror in Ghost Trio notonlycomposed space, ofimages. has an important roleand distinguishes itself from that theseriesdoorbecauseitis notvisible from the"camera's window-pallet long-shot posinot in at thebeginning; tion"and does moreover, figure thepresentations it will be pairedwiththe cassette-player same ("Smallgreyrectangle, dimensions as thecassette-player") rather than thethree (413), with things. theonlytime theprophesying voiceis taken Further, by surprise, caught leansoverthemirror off forthe guard-"Ah!"-is whentheprotagonist can see When at a before we it. we last the in first see time, mirror, close-up theImage-thefaceof theabominable from it. shot, protagonist-leaps The imageabandonsits base to becomea floating while the close-up, ofthe"Trio" secondmovement bars.Theface playsoutitslastamplified the deceitful starts tosmile, astonishingly andcunning smile in ofsomeone ofhis"testy with theendpoint delirium": he hasmade contact theimage.42

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18

Gilles Deleuze

Triogoes fromspace to the image.Any-space-whatever already ofpossibility, tothecategory because itspotentialities render belongs posofan event sibletherealization that is itself Buttheimagehas possible. because itdisengages from itsobject initself so as tobecome depth, greater a process-a possible that doesn't evenhaveto realizeitself event in the an of like the Cheshire Cat's disembody object anylonger: something inLewisCarroll.43 bodiedsmile Thisis whyBeckett makes theimage with suchcare: inEhJoe thesmiling face inimage, butwithout already appeared ourbeingabletosee themouth-the of the in smile purepossibility being and in thetworising theeyes, corners ofthemouth, therest notbeing in A In shot. horrible, mouthless smile. ...but the the female "has clouds..., face, almost no head,a facewithout in thevoid;"andinNacht headsuspended undTrltume, thedream face is as ifprocured from thelinen that mopsaway likea faceofChrist, in space.44 itssweat, and floats Butifit is truethat does notseparate itself from an inhabitant who exany-space-whatever someofitspotentialities, tenuates theimageremains withgreater reason the from movement whichit dissipates: thehead inseparable through likea cloudor somesmoke. bows,turns away,fadesaway,or disperses Thevisualimageis dragged theauralimagethat rushes alongbymusic, towards its own abolition. Bothrushtoward theend,all possibility exhausted. TheTrio leadsus from oftheimage. But...but the spacetothegateways breaks into the "sanctum." The sanctum: it is the where the place clouds.., willmakethe Orrather, ina return tothe protagonist image. post-cartesian theories ofMurphy, there arenow twoworlds, and mental, corphysical realand possible.45 The physical worldseemscomporealand spiritual, area,witha doorto theleftleadingto some "back posed of a limited and which theprotagonist leavesandreturns; totheright, roads," through a closet inwhich he changes andabove, thesanctum into which he clothes, all But this exists the voice which is that of the disappears. only through himself. All we see, on thecontrary, is any-space-whatever, protagonist as a circle surrounded more andmore dim designated byblack, becoming as one approaches theperiphery and moreand morebright as one apthecenter: thedoor, thecloset, thesanctum, areonly directions in proaches thecircle-west, farto thesouth, outofthecircle, is the east, north--and immobile camera. Whentheprotagonist he just direction, goesin a given sinks intoshadow;whenhe is in thesanctum, he justappears in close-up from oninvisible stool bowedoverinvisible table" behind, (clouds, "sitting has a mental itis a "mental 417).Thesanctum then, existence; only chamSubStance 1995 #78,

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would say (Murphy, to thelaw of 64),which ber,"as Murphy responds "Butmotion in thisworld[ofthe inversion as disentangled by Murphy: in theworld[ofthebody]"(ibid.).The imageis on rest mind]depended of an object, but a movement in the this:nota representation precisely Theimageis spiritual the"life worldofthespirit. above"ofHowItIs. life, the exhaust the movements and One canonly the acrobatics ofthelife joys, ifthebodyremains ofthespirit curled itself immobile, sombre, up,sitting, what thisis calls "collusion" exhausted: (ibid.,65), theperfect Murphy accordbetween theneeds of thebody and theneeds of the spirit, the The subject of ...but the clouds... is thisspiritual doubleexhaustion. need, thislifeabove.Whatmatters is no longerany-space-whatever but the itleads. mental imagetowhich an image. Ofcourse, itis noteasytomake Itis notenough justtothink or someone. The voicesays:"When I thought ofher...No... ofsomething ...." Itrequires an obscure is notright a second No, that tension, spiritual or third intensio as theauthors of theMiddleAges would say,a silent evocation that is alsoaninvocation andevena convocation andrevocation, thething ortheperson since itraises totheindefinite state: a woman.... "I call to theeye of themind"exclaims Willie(Happy Nine Days,74-75).46 in a thousand hundred times and ninety-eight and you fail nothing apthesublime pears.And whenyou succeed, imageinvadesthescreenfemalefacewithout contour-toimmediately "in the same disappear, it sometimes before sometimes it breath"(clouds, 420); lingers disappearing, from murmurs somewords In anycase,theimage Yeats's poem. responds ofIll seen, tothedemands Ill understood, which in Ill said;Ill seen, reigns ofthespirit/mind. thekingdom Andinsofar as itis spiritual it movement, from theprocess ofitsowndisappearance, is notseparated ofitsdissipaor not. The is a a but on the tion, breath, premature image pant, expelled The to extinction. is what dies wastes a fall. Itis a image way away, away, whichdefines as suchthrough its height--its level itself pureintensity, above zero,whichis onlydescribed in falling.47 Retained from Yeats's in theskyand dispersing on poemarethevisualimageofcloudspassing thehorizon and theauralimageofthecryofa birddyingawayin the Itis in this sensethat theimage a potential concentrates that night. energy in its itdrags of It announces that the end of along process autodissipation. thepossibleis nearfortheprotagonist of ...but theclouds... , just as for a "zephyr," a "breath" whofeels before the eternal the Winnie, dark, just blacknight without end (Happy There is no more no 78-79). Days, image, morethanthere is space:beyond thepossible is onlythedark, there as in third and laststate, that state wherein theprotagonist no longer Murphy's
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20

Gilles Deleuze

anindiscernible "inthedark inspirit, buthasbecome moves atom, aboulic, freedom" "nohow."48 66).Itis thefinal word, ... of... absolute (Murphy, to ...but the The entire laststanzaofYeats'spoemis relevant clouds...: to the that the exhaustions so as end bears Seated two produce away.The and Yeats overflows thispiece;not thatBeckett intersection of Beckett of introducing takesup againYeats'sproject Japanese N6 intoWestern ofBeckett withN5, however theater. Buttheconvergences involuntary, for and perhaps television partin theworks presuppose appearfortheir a theater of ofYeats.It'swhathasbeencalleda "visual thetheater poem," not a to an to recount but erect It thespirit that story, proposes image. is a network that for defined words decor ofcircuits further through provide the minutiae in any-space-whatever, extreme these of circuits, through in spaceandin time, inrelation andrecapitulated towhatmust measured in the spiritualimage. It is definedthroughthe remainindefinite and the camera,as who are like "super-marionettes,"49 protagonists, with autonomous furtive or movement, dazzling, protagonist, antagonistic of theother and through to themovement therefusal of protagonists, are artificial which not suited (slowmotion, techniques superimposition), .... 50Onlytelevision, mind tothemovements ofthe toBeckett, according demands. is abletosatisfy these Theoperation ofNacht und is still to"make the butthis image," Triiume theprotagonist has no voicewith time which tospeak, and does nothear noris he abletomove, as he sits, headin crippled with hands, any, empty a It is new (Worstword 103). "clenched Ho, staring eyes" purification, Nohownought. Nohowon" (ibid., "Nohowless.Nohowworse. 128).It is and he is aboutto dream. Arewe supposedto think he is asleep? night to believeBlanchot, Better whenhe declares that thenight sleepbetrays becauseit producesan interruption between two days,permitting the the tosucceed We areusually content todistinguish following preceding.51 orwaking between thedaydream andthedream ofsleep.Butthese dream, oftiredness and repose. In this arequestions state, waywe missthethird is perhaps themost which alone to insomnia, important: appropriate night, ofinsomnia, andthedream which is a matter ofexhaustion. Theexhausted is theone who stares. You dreamed in sleep,butyou dreamalongside insomnia. The twoexhaustions, "thehead and logicaland psychological, thelungs"as Kafkasaid,arrange a rendez-vous behind ourbacks.Kafka and Beckett resemble one another at all,butthey havetheinsomhardly niac dreamin common.52 In thedreamofinsomnia, it is nota matter of the but of the either extendrealizing impossible, exhausting possible, by
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likea realwaking which willallowittobe treated ingittothemaximum, of Kafka, it to a minimum, which or, in reducing day in the manner a of without like Beckett. to the Dream it sleep, nothingness night subjects from Insomnia is thecrouchthat is theguardian sleeping. keepsinsomnia as thedaysandclosesinas strongly as the outas far ingbeastthat spreads of The posture insomnia. night. terrifying Theinsomniac ofNacht undTrilume himself for whathe has prepares handssitting on thetable, head sitting on hands:a to do. He is seated, a of hands to head or still less of movement simpledisengaging simple a in oneanother is a possibility that handsfrom might only appear dream, footstool.... Butitis necessary tomake this dream. likea flying Thedream oftheaboulic, is notlikethesleeping oftheinsomniac, oftheexhausted, ofdesire and thebody, itself all alonein thedepths that fashions it dream that to be has The "dream," ofthemind is a dream made,manufactured. in thesameseatedposition, inwillbe thesameprotagonist theimage, and instead of above the left but dreamer; in verted, profile right profile, intheimage, handstodisengage other for thedreamed those order hands, andraisethehead,bring ita chalice, willhavetocaress ofa woman, wipe a cloth headnowraised, so that, thedreamed itsbrow with can protagonist oneofthose that anddispense stretch hishandstowards condense [hands] a in This the seems to attain image image. energy heart-rending intensity, until thehead sinksagainontothree on hands,thefourth resting gently And of the head. when the think image dissipates, youmight youhear top a voice:thepossible is accomplished, "itis doneI've madetheimage." But no morethanin Quad.There is onlythemalevoicethat no voicespeaks, humsand singsthelastbarsof thehumble refrain carried alongby the
music of Schubert,"Soft dreams come again ...,"

oftheimage, and onceafter Theauralimage, itsdisappearance. pearance the visual the or andopensup void thesilence ofthe music, relays image, whobrings latest end.Thistime it'sSchubert, so admired about byBeckett, a hiatus a kindofdisconnecting in a manner orjump, different from very thatof Beethoven. melodic voicethatjumpsclearof It is themonodic, in order reduced to a minimum, to explore harmonic thepure supports, in the the dies A intensities sound vector ofaboliway experienced away. music. tion straddled by In hisworks for television Beckett exhausts twice over both spaceand theimage.Beckett was less and lessableto tolerate words. Andhe knew thereasonforthisgrowing from thebeginning: thespecific intolerance
of "boringholes" in thesurfaceoflanguage so that,"what lurks difficulty
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22

Deleuze Gilles

of the behindit" might appearat last.You can do thison thesurface CezanneorVanVelde;oron thesurface likeRembrandt, canvas, painted to allowthesuddenappearance of or Schubert, ofsound,likeBeethoven there the audible silence or the visible void or the "Is se;but, se, per per any of thewordsurface shouldnotbe reasonwhythatterrible materiality wordslie;they areso .. .?53Itis notonly that capableofbeingdissolved withintentions and perand significations, withcalculations burdened that that their oldhabits cement with sonalmemories, them, surface, barely It and suffocates healsoveragain.Itsticks us. broken, together.imprisons thedeath ofsomeyoung into a dead to transform Musicarrives girl young of theindefinite like a pure thisextreme determination it operates girl; inMemory as inthe"Concerto ofan Angel." thesurface, intensity piercing thatkeep themin thegeneral adherences or the Butwords,withtheir ofdehiscence," lackthat do this. that cannot They "punctuation particular, to art. It is thatcomesfroma groundswell "disconnection" peculiar in to surmount the of allows Beckett television which, part, inferiority with as in QuadandNacht und words: either words, spoken bydispensing to to or to them become or enumerate, decor, using present, by Trdiume; to be loosenedand allowstheintroduction ofthings whichallowsthem them the between ...but or and movements (Ghost Trio, clouds...); by eman interval ora bar,therest ina certain words following passing phasizing at end of of as the Eh or some them audible murmur, Joe; bytaking barely theaccentuation themelody which lack,as in alongwith givesthem they it is always something On television, otherthan Nachtund Trdiume. orvision-that cometoloosenthegrip toseparate words-music ofwords, aside.Is there them or evencompletely thenno salvation for put them atlast, where words ofthemwouldstepoutside words-likea newstyle, becomes so as toproduce thevery where visions selves, language poetry, behind former remain the and soundsthat imperceptible language("the or sounds, how do you distinguish old style""4)? Visions between them? so so are are so and that called ill ill seen, simple, strong, they pure They and backfire on themselves to revealtheir saidwhenwordsburst own The verymusicof poetry read aloud without outside. music.Fromthe a style for that a perBeckett clamors wouldproceed beginning, through oftissue foration and proliferation down and ("a breaking multiplication in theoriginall). Itis elaborated oftissue"[English thenovels throughout in thesplendor levelsoutinHowItIs, andbursts and thetheater, forth of And last texts. it's sometimes brief his added to the segments, ceaselessly in orderto lead to thecomplete interior of thephrase, of the breaking as inthepoem, is the Word: surface ofwords, What
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The Exhausted

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follyseeingall thisthiswhat is thewordthisthisthisthishere-all thisthishere-follygivenall thisseeingfollyseeingall thisthisherefortowhat is thewordseeglimpseseem to glimpseneed to seem to glimpseforto need to seem to glimpsefolly whatwasTold, (inAsthe 132) Story it's through connections thatriddlethephraseto ceaselessAnd sometimes the of in the reduce surface as Ho: words, poem Worstward ly No. Naught Lessbest. best. Bestworse. No. Notbestworse. not Naught Lessbest worse. No. Least. bestworse. Least best worse. Leastnever tobe Never tonaught be brought. be nulled. Never Unnullnaught. bynaught ableleast. best worst. With words worse. best Saythat leastening sayleast for Blanks when words gone. (118,124)

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24 ABBREVIATIONS USED CDW CSP NO Works Dramatic Complete Collected Shorter Prose NohowOn

GillesDeleuze

WORKS CITED
was Told. London:Calder,1990. Beckett, Samuel,As the Story

don: Calder,1983.

Prose London: 1984. Shorter 1945-1980. . Collected Calder, London: 1986. Dramatic Works. - The Faber, Complete and a Ed. Ruby Miscellaneous Dramatic Cohn.Lon- Disjecta. Writings Fragment.

. HappyDayslO les beaux jours.Bilingualeditioned. JamesKnowlson.London: Faber,1978. --. How itIs. New York:GrovePress,1964. . MaloneDies.New York:GrovePress,1956. New York:GrovePress,1955. . Molloy. London:Picador, 1973. -. Murphy. Nohow On. London: . Calder,1989. ettextes Nouvelles rien. Paris:Minuit, 1991. pour mortes. Paris:Minuit, 1967. . Tetes

-.

New York:GrovePress,1958. . TheUnnamable. - . Watt. London:Picador,1988. Beckett, ... que nuages...,Nacht Samuel,and GillesDeleuze. Quad et Triodu Fant6me, Paris:Editions de Minuit, 1992. Robert. Notes surlecinematographe. Paris:Gallimard, Bresson, [1975]. Surla dialectique. Paris:Gallimard, 1953. Parain, Brice, NOTES

del'anglais undtrdiume, traduit suivi deL'Epuise Deleuze. Fournier, parEdith parGilles

1. [Translation ofL'Epuisd, 1992byLes Editions de Minuit. Permission copyright topublishthistranslation the Deleuze's was first granted by publisher. essay published in Franceas an afterword to fourplays fortelevision which, by Samuel Beckett from were published havingbeen translated EnglishintoFrench by EdithFournier, in thisedition(Beckett, forthefirst timein French Samuel,et GillesDeleuze. Quad et

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Paris:Editions de Minuit. Deleuze. SuivideL'6puis" 1992). parGilles as a noun (l'ipuise).I have Deleuze uses thepast participle, (exhausted), 6puis6 to reflect thiswherever attempted possible. Deleuze's original Translator's notesarein squarebrackets, notesare not.Where to texts and pages in their I have giventhe French Deleuze gave references versions, references to thepublished translations.] English 2. Beckett, CSP, 72. Samuel,Texts Nothing, for 3. [Cf.Beckett, ForTo EndYetAgain, CSP.] I GaveUp Before 4. [Cf.Beckett, CSP.] Birth, Surla dialectique, Paris:Gallimard, 5. Cf.Parain,Brice, 1953:language "does not it what in thecountry what You one be... is, say thereis thunder, say says might it'spossible, thatmight itis daytime, be thecase. .. WhenI say that itis not responds: .. [but]becauseI have myintention, at all because itis daytime. whichis particular to to whichtheday servesonlyas an occasion,of pretext or argume, to accomplish, ment"(61,130). Withregardto "identified 6. ["unitedes contradictoires." see Giorcontraries," in dano Brunoand Beckett's 19.] , essay,"Dante...Bruno.Vico...Joyce," Disjecta 7. [Cf.The famousbeginning and endingof Moran'snarrative in Molloy: "It is on thewindows... . ThenI wentbackintothehouseand The rainis beating midnight. It is midnight. The rainis beating on thewindows.It was notmidnight. It was wrote, notraining" 125,241.] 8. [Beckett, ForNothing, Texts CSP, 74.] Martelhas made a veryrigorous 9. Francois science, study, usingcombinatorial in Watt: formels oftheseriesand disjunctions dans Watt," No. 10,1972. "Jeux PoItique, Cf.MaloneDies: "Everything dividesintoitself" (4). 10. Blanchot, Le livre A venir(Paris: Gallimard, of the 211). The exacerbation in L'homme theme sansqualites. ofthepossibleis a constant meaning 11. [The bracketed 'e' here indicatesthatthe exhaustedone might(in thisinto the uncertainty stance) be eithermale or female.This is probablya reference ofthenarrator thegender ofEnough, whomcertain critics consider male surrounding and certain(due to the sexual natureof his/herrelationship with the older male in thestory) character have suggested is female.] 12. Beckett, version(Assez)thisreads,"I'artde CSP, 140. [In theFrench Enough, combiner ou combinatoire c'est une tuile du ciel. Pour Le restje n'est pas ma faute, diraisnoncoupable."My italics. Paris:Minuit. 1967.p. 36.] Beckett, Thtes-mortes. 13. Quoted from Beckett's '"TheTower" by W.B. Yeats,thepoem thatinspired the ...but clouds... television, piece for 14. [Beckett, Nacht undTrdume, CDW, 465.] 15. [Forcrawling forrolling, Macmannin MaloneDies,for cf.Molloyin Molloy, one plantedin a jar,Mahood in TheUnnamable.] CSP (179),Afar a Bird, (113,118),FortoEndYetAgain, Told, ibid.,(195). 17. ["La berceuse"is a reference to Berceuse, theFrench version ofBeckett's play In Deleuze as in Beckett, at onceto a rocking thewordrefers a lullaby, chair, Rockaby. and thefemale in herchair. oftheplay,rocking protagonist 18.Cf.EdithFournier, in Samuel Revue Paris:Ed. Privat, Beckett, d'esthitique, p. 24: "Beckett breaksthenecessary his bone,notthephrasenortheword,buttheir stream; is in havingknownhow to dryitup." greatness

und Traduit del'anglais Edith Nacht Trdume. Fournier. Trio duFantome, par nuages..., ...que

16.Beckett, Worstward inAs the On (103), Was Ho,inNohow Still, Stirrings Story

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ofTheUnnamable seemsto becomecircular. 19. It is herethatthegreat"theory" back to "masters" who are The idea thatthevoicesof theprotagonists perhapsrefer themselves. theprotagonists from different of TheUnnamable, 20. [Cf.theopeningparagraph p. 3: "Whatam I to do, what how proceed?By aporia pure and shall I do, what should I do, in my situation,

andnegations invalidated as uttered, orsooner orlater?"] Orbyaffirmations simple?

in German(Disjecta, of 1937written 21. Cf. also a letter p. 172): "As we cannot undone thatmight eliminate languageall at once,we should at least leave nothing in it,untilwhat To boreone hole after intodisrepute. another to itsfalling contribute ornothing-begins to seep through." Ho lurks behindit-be itsomething (Worstward "No ooze then.") would say on thecontrary: itself a memory22. Often theimagedoesn'tfully succeedin disengaging from in Company. And sometimes thevoiceis animated desire bya perverse image,notably as in thepiecefortelevision, EhJoe. cruelmemory, to imposea particularly DeadImagine, and All Strange 23. [Cf.Imagination CSP.] Away, "a little blue" and "a little and "thelifeabove,"see How 24. Concerning white," itIs, pp. 70,72,75. 25. [In HappyDaysWinniepossessesa smallmusicbox which"playstheWaltz ofthisplay, The Merry Widow."In Beckett's French version Duet 'I love you so' from uses thesame piece of music,but thelyrics to theFrench Oh les beaux jours,Beckett differ from Thisis thesongto whichWinnie theEnglish lyrics. exquise) song (L'Heure theright timetosingit.She finally theplay,carefully does refers awaiting throughout the Cf. les beaux end of at the it, play. HappyDays/Oh very jours,pps. 52-53and sing

82-83.] inDisjecta, "Lemonde etle pantalon," the 26.Beckett, two p. 118(andregarding in and Geer van et of frissonnante" [the Bram Velde, "image figee image types image

imagel). congealedand theshuddering a murmur or a silence, 27. Pingactivates usuallyaccompanied byan image. Ghost 28. Cf. the voice in the piece fortelevision, Trio,[CDW]. In Catastrophe and thatoftheDirector so as [ibid.]thevoiceoftheAssistant respondto one another to describe the image to be made, and to make it. [Cf. also Cascando, ibid., for "Opener."] theill will ofWords, andMusic(pieceforradio) [CDW] we witness 29. In Words to followMusic. refuses to rehashing who,too attached memory, personal consistof Ghost 30. The worksfortelevision Trio, 1975,...buttheclouds..., 1976, 1965 [CDW]. Why Eh Joeis Nachtund Trdume, 1982,Quad, 1982,as well as Eh Joe, in thecollection thatthepresent essayoriginally accompanied.] republished 31. [Cf.TheLostOnes,CSP, 159.] werenotonlymade ofcriesand chants withanimals, refrains butof 32. Already as is seen in themarking of territories and mating and movements, colors,postures Guattari has studiedtheroleofthe F61ix displays.Thisis also trueofhumanrefrains. "les in the work of Proust (L'inconscient du temps refrain machinique, ritournelles of Vinteuil'slittlephrase with perdu," Ed. Encres):forexample the combination and movements. colors, postures 33. Cf.pp. 103-106. 34. For to End YetAgain, p. 182,Ping,p. 151,["BingsilenceHop achev6,"Bing 66)]. (T&tes-mortes, Minuit, in relation or comportments. to objects

theothers will be discussed from below.[EhJoe is not of separately thought

likeWatt, the series into novels but 35.Inthe might already putmovements play,

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The Exhausted

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translates translation 36. [In herFrench (quotedherebyDeleuze) EdithFournier "all in this way Beckett'sphrase "all given" as "tous ainsi 6puises," or literally, exhausted."] ineachoftheir and TheUnnamable on meditations 37.Molloy include, beginnings, oftwobodies. thecoming together FairtoMiddling 38. Cf.Dream of1937toAxelKaun Women, 1932,and theletter of in has Dream extract now been [Bothquoted in Disjecta; quoted publishedin fullby in Beethoven New York,1993].Beckett underlines "a punctuation ArcadePublishing, thecoherence ofdehiscence, Bernold 49]. Andr6 gonetopieces..."[Disjecta, flottements, in a verybeautiful on Beethoven on thesetextsof Beckett's has commented article,

Atelierde la Fondation musicien," D6tail, "Cupio dissolvi,note sur Beckett No. 3/4, 1991.Musicologists the secondmovement of Royaumont, analyzing
in tremolo Trioemphasizethenotation ofthepiano thatare followed Beethoven's by Burton). in Cinema, "Le film structurel" Ed. Kincksieck, 39. P.A. Sitney, thedrie, lectures, p. had made an analogousoperation, 342:on thefilm but Snow,Beckett bySnow.Before in purely Embers. The protagonist, whomwe hearwalking conditions: on radiophonic thatrespondto his call. But they pebbles close to the sea, evokes sound-memories and thepotentiality oftheauralspace beingexhausted, cease responding, the quickly sound ofthesea engulfs everything. 40. Cf. Disjecta, letter to Axel Kaun, p. 172. And, on punctuation, the musical ofsilences connection and thepassagefrom musicto silence, Cf.Andr6Bernold, p. 26, 28. 41. The voice-image visual scission can have contrary in Beckett, it consequences:

"which soarsstraight towards the andstays a keynote there..." wrong key (Anthony

ofa depotentialization is a matter ofthespace, or Marguerite but,in theStraubs

a potentialization A voice is raisedto speak of ofmatter. Duras,itis, on thecontrary, whathappenedin theempty Voicesare raisedto speak ofan ancient space presented. ball thattookplace in thesame hall as thesilent ball puton today.The voiceis raised to evokewhatis buriedin theearth likea stillactivepotential. 42. "Testydelirium" the clouds... ["'he appearsin theYeatspoemquotedin ...but in thewritten of Ghost text is a Tower"].[The smilehere,whichis notindicated Trio, supposition explainedin thenextparagraph.] 43. [Deleuze discussestheCheshire Cat's smilein TheLogic ofSense.] 44. JimLewis, Beckett's cameraman forthe pieces fortelevision producedin to thesethree cases ("Beckett et speaksoftechnical Stuttgart, problems corresponding la camera,"Revued'esth&thique, Beckett wanted the p. 371 ff.).NotablyforEh Joe, ofthelips to enter corners ofa centimeter intotheimage,and nota half. by a quarter 45. This is fromthe greatsixthchapterof Murphy, "Amor intellectualis quo

se ipsum amat," Murphy p.63. 46.Happy Ohlesbeaux Itis a phrase borrowed from Yeats Daysl pp.74-75. jours.
Hawk'sWell). Similar "rather thannaming the (Atthe phrasesarefoundinKlossowski:

ofpurespirit..." (Roberte becomestheobject cesoir, Ed. de Minuit, p. 31). Klossowski, in relation linksinvocation and revocation forhispart, withvoices,breaths. 47. The problem ofthedissipation oftheimage,oroftheFigure, appearsin quite in Bacon'spainting. similar terms 49. ["Sur-marionnettes." Deleuze is perhapsreferring hereto theworkofHeinrichvon Kleistand Edward GordonCraig,whose theories oftheater bear morethan

itis thecontrary for which is produced...suddenly Roberte Roberte, spirit [l'esprit]

Ho. 48.Cf.Worstward

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GillesDeleuze

to Beckett's works.An Englishtranslation by Roman Paska of passing similarity in theearlynineteenth written Kleist'sfamousessay,"On theMarionette Theater," is to be foundin theZone Magazinepublication, a History Fragments for century, ofthe describes his ideal HumanBody, PartOne.New York:Urzone.1989.pp. 415-420. Craig in his book,On theArtoftheTheatre, of theactoras "fiber-marionette" Theatre Arts will notcompetewithlife--rather, it Books,New York,1956: "The uber-marionette the body in will go beyondit. Its ideal will not be the fleshand blood but rather witha death-like will aim to clotheitself beautywhile exhalinga living trance--it spirit" (84-85).] of antagonistic 50. It is in Film[CDW] thatthe cameraacquiresthemaximum but cinemahas moreneed of "trickery" thantelevision (Cf.thetechnical movement; oftheimagehereis muchmoredifficult. ofFilm, p. 331) and control problem the essence of night 51. Blanchot, Gallimard, L'espaceLitte'raire, p. 281: "night, does notletus sleep." in theCountry," Franz."Wedding trans. Ernst 52. Cf.Kafka, Kaiser Preparations mondsworth: it Penguin.1978.p. 10: "I don'teven need to go to thecountry myself, I'll send myclothed in my isn'tnecessary. am meanwhile body.... ForI myself lying coveredoverwiththeyellow-brown bed,smoothly blanket, exposedto thebreezethat is waftedthrough thatseldom-aired room."And in theeditionof Obliques dedicated awake during to Kafka, cf.thetext their by Groethuysen: "Theyremained sleep;they had kepttheir eyesopen whiletheyslept... Itis a worldwithout sleep.The worldof with a is clear." thewakingsleeper. Everything, frightening clarity, in Disjecta 53. Cf.thetwo texts reprinted [p.172]. 54. Cf.HappyDays.

in Wedding in theCountry andOther Harand Eithne Stories. Wilkins, Preparations

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