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The Fold

Author(s): Gilles Deleuze and Jonathan StraussReviewed work(s):Source: Yale French Studies, No. 80, Baroque Topographies: Literature/History/Philosophy(1991), pp. 227-247Published by: Yale University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930269 .

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GILLES DELEUZE

The Fold*

MATERIAL COILS1The Baroquedoes not refer o an essence,butrather o an operativefunction,oa characteristic.tendlessly reates olds. t doesnot n-ventthething: here re all the folds hatcomefrom he Orient-Greek,Roman,Romanesque,Gothic, lassicalfolds.... But t twistsand turns hefolds, akes themto infinity,oldupon fold, old fterfold. hecharacteristicf heBaroque s thefold hat oeson to nfini-ty.Andfrom hebeginningt differentiateshemalongtwo lines,accordingotwo nfinities,s if he nfinite ad two evels: hecoilsofmatter,ndthefolds n the oul. Below,matters amassed ccordingoaninitial ype ffold, hen rganized ccordingo a second ype,nso-far s its parts onstitute rgans differentlyolded ndmoreor essdeveloped."2 bove, he soul sings heglory fGodbyrunning longitsownfolds, houghwithout ucceedingnentirelyevelopinghem,"for hey each nto the nfinite.""Monadology," 61, nPhilosoph-

*With hepermission fGilles Deleuze andGeorges orchardt,nc.1. Deleuze distinguishes, ot entirely onsistently,etween he "replis" fin-organicmatter nd the "plis" of theorganic. Pli" and "repli"bothhave a primarymeaning f fold" nd reotherwiseargelyynonymous,lthoughhe orm f he attersuggestsn dea of epetition.n ntrovertedersonsfurthermoreaidtobe "repli6ursoi,"and heword repli" onsequentlyas a connotationf urningnward,r nvagina-tion.To maintain distinctionnEnglish,have ranslatedpli" s "fold" nd "repli" s"coil," ince he atter vokes hemovementsf reptilereferredo nFrenchsreplisbutnotplis), he dea offoldingn on oneself nd the pringsressorts]hichDeleuzesaysunderlie eibnizianmatter.Translator'snote.2. "A New System ftheNature nd the CommunicationfSubstances," 7, nGottfried ilhelm eibniz, hilosophical apers ndLetters,ol.2 trans. nd ed. andintroductiony Leroy . LoemkerChicago:Universityf ChicagoPress,1956), 43.Hereafterited nthetext.YFS 80,BaroqueTopographies,d.Timothy ampton, 1991byYaleUniversity.

227

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228 Yale French tudiesical Papers nd Letters, 055, nd cf., lso "The Principles fNatureandofGraceBasedOn Reason," 13,1040-41).Alabyrinthssaidtobemultiple, tymologically,ecause thas manyfolds.The multiple snot merely hatwhichhas manyparts, ut thatwhich s folded nmanyways.Eachlevel correspondserfectlyo a labyrinth:he aby-rinth f he oextensiveontent fmatter nd tsparts,he abyrinthflibertyn the oul and tspredicates"OnFreedom," ol. 1,404-10). fDescarteswasunabletoreconcile hem,t s because,unaware fthesoul's nclinationndthe urvaturefmatter,etried ofind ontent'ssecret unninglong traightines and iberty'secret n a rectitude fthe soul. A "cryptography"s neededwhichwould both enumeratenature nddecipherhe oul, ee nto he oilsofmatter ndreadnthefolds fthe oul.3It is certain hatthere s communicationetween hetwo evels(whichs why ontent isesup intothe oul).There resoulsbelow-animal,opento sensation-or evenbottomevels n souls,and thecoilsofmatter urroundhem, nvelop hem.Whenwe discoverhatsouls can haveno windows otheoutside,wewillneed, t east tfirst,to thinkof this n reference o the souls above,the rational ouls,whichhaverisen o theother evel "elevation").t is theupper evelwhichhas nowindow: darkened ompartmentrstudy, urnishedonlywith stretchedloth diversifiedyfolds,"ike thebottomayerof skinexposed.Thesefolds, opes, rspringsetup on theopaqueclothrepresentnnateknowledge, ut an innateknowledgewhichpasses nto ctionwhen alleduponbymatter.or he atter nleashesthe "vibrations roscillations" tthe ower xtremityftheropesbymeans of "small openings"whichdo existon the ower evel. t is agreat aroque pparatus hichLeibniz etsupbetween he ower evel,piercedbywindows, ndtheupper tory,ealed andsightless ut nreturn esonant,ike a sounding ox whichwouldrender udiblethevisiblemovements oming rom elow.4 t will be objected hat histext s not n expressionfLeibniz's hought,utrather he imit fhis

3. On cryptographys the "artof nventinghekeyto an enveloped hing,"f.,FragmentDe ArteCombinatoria"n Opuscules tfragmentsn6dits e Leibniz:Ex-traits es manuscrits e a Bibliotheque oyale eHanovre,d.LouisCouturatParis:LesBellesLettres, 934), 63; Johnocke,New EssaysonHumanUnderstanding,d.and rans. eter emnantndJonathanennetCambridge:ambridgeniversityress,1981), ol.4, chap.17, ? 8: thecoilsofNature ndthe"abstractsabr6g6s]."ereaftercited n the text.4. Gottfried ilhelm eibniz,NewEssays, 44-45. nthis ook, eibniz reworks"Locke'sEssays;thedarkenedompartmentas beenreferredobyLocke,butnotthefolds.Hereafterited n thetext.

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GILLES DELEUZE 229possible agreement ith Locke. That does not hinder t in the eastfrom fferingwayofrepresentinghatLeibnizwillcontinuallys-sert: correspondence,ven communicationetween hetwo evels,between hetwo abyrinths,etween hecoils ofmatter nd thefoldsin the soul.A foldbetween he two folds?And the same image-ofveinsofmarble-is applied oboth ndifferentontexts; ometimesthe veinsare the twisted oils of matterwhichsurround helivingbeings aughtn a block, o that bankofmarbles like anundulatinglake fulloffish. ometimes heveins re the nnate deas n thesoul,like thebentfiguresr thepotential tatues aughtna blockofmar-ble. Mattersmarbled,ndthe oulismarbled,n twodifferentays.

?d..4.'

hi ~C

TheBaroqueHouse-(allegory)[diagram: closed, rivate oom, rapedwith 'clothdiversifiedyfolds'/commonroomswith a few mallopenings':hefive enses]

Wolfflinas noted certain umber fmaterial haracteristicsftheBaroque:the horizontal xtension f the bottom ections, heloweringf hepediment,heforward ovement f ow, urvedteps;the treatmentof matterbymasses or aggregates, heroundingoff fanglesand the avoidanceofstraightines,the substitution ftherounded canthusforthe aggedacanthus, heuse oftravertineoproduce pongy,avernous orms, r the elaboration f a whorl hatfeedsendlesslyon new turbulencesand ends onlyin thewaya horse'smane orwavefroth oes; thetendencyofmatterto overflow pace, to

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230 Yale French tudiesbe reconciledwith fluidity,t the same time thatthe waters hem-selves divide nto masses.5It is Huyghenswho developsa Baroque mathematical hysicswhose object s the curve.And withLeibniz,the curvature f theuniverse xtendsnaccordancewith hree ther undamentalotions:the fluidity f matter, he elasticity fbodies, he spring s mecha-nism. n the first lace, t is certain hatmatterwould not of tselfmove na curvedine: t wouldfollow hetangentPreface o theNewEssays).But theuniverses,as itwere, ompressed yan activeforcewhichgives curvilinearr wirlingmovement omatter,ollowingoits end a curvewithno tangent. ndthe nfinite ivision f mattermeansthat he compressiveorce elates achportion fmatter o tssurroundings,othe urroundingartswhichbathe ndpenetratehebody nquestion, eterminingts curvature.easelessly ividing,heparts fmatter ormittle wirlswithin swirl, nd nthem here reother,maller nes, nd tillmorenthe oncaventervalsf he wirlswhich ouchone another.Matter hus fferstexture hat s infinitelyporous, hat sspongyrcavernous ithoutmpty arts,ince here salwaysa cavern n thecavern: achbody, owever mall it may be,contains worldnsofar s it sperforatedyuneven assageways,ndtheworld, urroundedndpenetrated yanincreasinglyubtlefluid,was like a "pondof mattern whichthere redifferenturrents ndwaves" "Letter oDes Billettes, ecember 1696,"Philosophical a-pers nd Letters,ol.2, 772). t snot,however,o be concluded hat nthesecondplaceeventhesubtlestmattersperfectlyluid nd osingtherebyts texture,naccordancewith thesis hatLeibniz ttributesto Descartes. t sundoubtedlyescartes'smistake,which nefindsnvarious reas, ohavethoughthat herealdistinctionetween artsentailed eparability; hat defines n absolutefluid s precisely heabsenceof oherence rcohesion, hat s tosay, he eparabilityf heparts,which s only pplicable o anabstractndpassivematterLeib-niz,"Tablededefinitions,"nOpusculesetfragments,86.AndNewEssays, 2, chap. 23, ? 23, 222-23). Accordingo Leibniz,twotrulydistinct arts fmatteranbe nseparable,s is shownnotonly n theactionofthesurroundings-whicheterminehecurvilinearmove-ment f body-but alsobythe mbient ressure, hichdeterminesits hardness coherence,ohesion)orthe nseparabilityf tsparts.One would hushavetosay hat bodyhas adegree fhardness s wellas a degree f luidity,rthat t sessentially lastic, he lasticforce f

5. Cf.,HeinrichWolfflin,enaissance ndBaroque, rans. atherineimonIthaca:CornellUniversityress, 984).

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GILLES DELEUZE 231bodiesbeing the expression fthe activecompressive orcewhichworks nmatter-oncea boatreaches certainpeed, wavebecomesas hardas a marblewall. The atomistichypothesis fan absolutehardnessndtheCartesian ypothesisf nabsolute luidityonvergeall themore asilybecausethey hare he ameerror,ositing epara-bleminima, ithern the form f finite odies,or, nfinitely,n theformfpoints theCartesianine as the iteof hesepoints, hepunc-tualanalytic quation).This s whatLeibniz etsforthnan extraordinaryext: flexible relasticbody tillhas coherent artswhichform fold,with heresultthat hey onot eparatentoparts fparts, utrather ividenfinitelyinto smaller nd smaller olds hat lwaysretain certain ohesion.What s more, he abyrinthfcontinuitys not a linewhichwoulddissolve nto ndependentoints,ike andflowingngrains, ut s ikea piece of fabric r a sheet ofpaperwhich divides ntoan infinitenumber f foldsor disintegratesnto curvedmovements,ach onedeterminedy heconsistencyrtheparticipationf tssetting.Thedivision fthecontinuous ughtnot to be considereds thatof andintograins, ut s that f sheet fpaper rof tunic ntofolds,nsucha waythat here an be an infinite umber ffolds, ne smaller hanthe next,without hebodyeverdissolvingntopointsor minima"("PlacidiusPhilalethi," puscules, 14-15). Always foldwithin hefold,ikea cavernwithin hecavern. he unitofmatter,he smallestelement f the abyrinth,s thefold, ot thepoint,which s neverpart, utonly nextremityf he ine.That swhy heparts fmatteraremasses oraggregates,s corollaryo thecompressivelasticforce.The unfold s thus not theopposite fthefold, utfollows ne folduntil the next. "Particles wisted nto folds," ndwhich a "contraryefforthanges ndchanges gain" "LetteroDes Billettes," 73).Foldsof hewinds, f ire ndthe arth,ndthe ubterraneanolds f odes nthemine.The solidcreases f natural eography"an be attributedothe nitial ction f ire,ollowedy hat f hewinds ndwaters ntheearth n a system f omplexnteractions;nd odesare ike the urvesofconicsections, nding ow n a circle r an ellipse,nowextendinginto hyperbolara parabola.6Material cience, heJapanesehiloso-pherwould ay, asas itsmodel"origami,"rthe rt f hepaper old.

6. G. W.Leibniz, Protogaea," peraOmnia,ed. L. Dutens Geneva:Fratres eTournes, 768), ol.2.

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232 Yale French tudiesWHAT IS BAROQUE?

Monads "havenowindows ywhich omethingmight nter r eavethem," hey ave "neither olesnordoors."7fwe do nottry oreachprecise nderstandingf he ituation, erun herisk funderstand-ing t too abstractly. picture till has an externalmodel, s still awindow.The modern eadermight all tomind film hown n thedark, utthefilmwas nonetheless hot. s one then o magine umer-ical mages, hathavenomodel, heproductsf calculation? r moresimply, line of nfinitenflection, hichworks or surface,s wefind n theworks fPollockorRauschenberg?t has infact eensaidthatwith Rauschenberghe picture's urface s no longer windowonto heworld utbecomes nopaquetable f nformationn whichnumberedine is inscribed.8nplaceof thepicture/windowhere ssubstituted abulation,he table on which are nscribedines,num-bers, hanging haractersobject-matter).9eibnizceaselesslydrawsup linearand numerical ables with which to furnish he interiorsurfaces fthe monad. n placeof holes there re folds.Against hesystemwindow/countrysides opposedthepair city/information-table.'0The Liebnizianmonadwouldbesuch table, rrather room,an apartment ntirely overedwithlines of variable nflection.twouldbe thedark oom f heNewEssays, urnished ith stretchedclothdiversifiedymoving,iving olds. he essential oint bout hemonad s that t is background:t drawseverythingrom his, ndnothingomes from utside ndnothing oesoutside.In thisrespect, here s no need to refer o overlymodern evelop-ments, xcept nsofars they idinunderstanding hat the Baroqueenterpriselreadywas. For longtimetherehave beenplaceswherewhat s on view s inside:thecell,thesacristy,hecrypt,hechurch,thetheater,hereading-room,rprint ollection. hesearetheplaceswhichtheBaroqueprivilegednorder odrawfrom hem heir ower

7. Leibniz,Monadology,7; Letter o Princess ophie, une 700, hilosophischenSchriften,ol.1, 554.8. Leo Steinberg,therCriteria,New York:Oxford niversityress, 972):"theflatbed icture lane."9. Objectile object-matter]s aneologism pparentlyased n themodel f ubjec-tile,whichmeans the material upport,uch as canvas, oard,wall, thatunderliespainting.-Translator'sote.10. On theBaroque ity,nd the mportancefthecity ntheBaroque, f., ewisMumford,heCulture fCities NewYork:Harcourt,race ndCo., 1938) nd SeveroSarduy,ElCaravaggio a ciudad arroco"nEnsayos eneratesobre l BarrocoMex-ico: Fondode Cultura con6mico, 987), 79-82.

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GILLES DELEUZE 233and glory.At first,he darkroomhas onlya small,highopening,through hich ight nters, assing hroughwomirrors,he econd fwhich s tilted o follow page,ontowhichthe ightwillproject heunseen bjects hat re obe drawn."I hencomethe ransformationaldecors, ainted kies, ll types ftrompe-1'eil hich dornwalls: allthemonad's urniturend objects re ntrompe-1ceil.inally,heresthe rchitecturaldeaof roomn blackmarble, hereight enetratesonly through rifices o artfullywistedthattheyallow not theslightestlimpse f heoutside ut lluminate rcolor hedecorationsof a pure nside is it nottheBaroque piritwhich, n thissense, n-spiresLe Corbusiern theLa Tourette bbey?).t is impossible ounderstandhe Leibnizianmonad,and its systemoflight/mirror/pointof view/interiorecorationwithout elating hemto Baroquearchitecture.he latter etsupchapels nd chamberswhoseglancinglight omes from peningsnvisible ven o their nhabitants. ne ofits first cts s theStudiolo n Florence,with ts secret,windowlessroom.Themonad s a cell,more sacristyhan n atom: a roomwithneither oornorwindow,where ll actions re nternal.The monad s theautonomy f the nterior,n interiorwithoutexterior. et t has as a correlativehe ndependencefthefacade, nexteriorwithout nterior.t-the facade-can have doorsandwin-dows, t is fullofholes, lthough here s no suchthing s an emptyspace, holebeingnothingmore han he iteof more ubtlematter.The doors ndwindows fmatter pen andevencloseonlyfrom heoutside ndon theoutside.Naturally,rganicmatterlreadyuggestsan interiorization,ut a relative ne, always n progressnd nevercomplete. onsequently,fold uns hroughhatwhich s living, utin such a waythat t separates heabsolute nteriorityf themonadand the infinite xteriorityf matter espectivelynto the meta-physicalprinciple f life and thephysical aw of phenomena.Twoinfinite ets whichnevermeet: "The infinite ivisionof exteriorityextendsndlesslyndremains pen, othat t s necessaryo eavetheexterior and posit a punctual, interiorunity.... The realm of thephysical, he natural, hephenomenal,hecontingents completelyflungntothe nfiniteteration fopenchains: nthisrespectt s notmetaphysical.he realm f hemetaphysicaliesbeyond,ndbringsclose tothe teration .. themonad s that ixed ointwhich nfinite

11. Cf., L'Usagede a chambrebscure"t Gravesande,n SarahKofman,ameraobscura Paris:Galilee,1973), 9-97.

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234 Yale French tudiespartitioningeverattains and which closes off nfinitely ividedspace."'2 Baroque rchitecturean be defined ythat cissionof thefacade nd the nside, f he nteriornd theexterior,he utonomy fthe nteriorndthe ndependencef he xteriorffectednsuchawaythat ach onesets off heother.Woifflin,oo, aid this n hisownway,("it is precisely he contrast etween heaggravatedanguage f thefacade nd theserenepeacefulnessfthe nterior hichconstitutesone of hemostpowerfulffectshatBaroque rthasonus"), lthoughhe s wrongnthinkinghat he xcess f nteriorecoration ltimate-ly obscures he contrast,r thatthe absolute nteriors peaceful nitself. imilarly, eanRoussetdefines heBaroquebythescissionbe-tween the facade nd the interior,lthoughhe too believesthat tsdecoration isks"exploding"he nterior.till,the nterioremainsperfectlynifiedwhenviewed rom heperspectivermirrormposedon the viewer ythedecoration, owever omplicated. etween heinteriorndthe xterior,etween he pontaneityf he nside ndthedeterminationf heoutside newmodeof orrespondencesneeded,onewhichwastotally nknownopre-Baroquerchitects: Whatdi-rect nd necessary onnections there etween he nterior fSaint-Agnes nd tsfacade? .. Farfrom eing dapted othestructure,heBaroque acadehas a tendencyoexpress othingut tself," hile, orits part, he nterior allsback onitself, emains ealed, ends o offeritself o theviewerwhodiscoverst n tsentiretyrom singleview-point, s a "jewel-boxn whichthe absolute esides."'3Thenewharmony illbe madepossible, irst f ll,by hedistinc-tion betweenthe twostories,nsofar s it resolves ensionor dis-tributescission. t sthe ower tory hich scharged ith hefacade,andwhich extends y puncturingtself,whichcurvesback n accor-dancewith hedeterminateoilsof heavymatter,herebyonstitut-ingan infiniteeception oom, rroomofreceptivity.t is theupperstory hat s closed,a pure nteriorwithout xterior,n interioritysealed in weightlessness,ined n spontaneous oldswhich arenowonlythose ofa soul ora spirit. onsequently,heBaroqueworld, sWolfflinas shown, s organized ccordingo two vectors: sinkingdownward nd anupward ull. t is Leibnizwhopermits he coexis-

12. MichelSerres, e systeme e Leibniz Paris: ressesUniversitairese France,1968), 62.13. Jean ousset, aLitt6ratureel'age baroque nFrance: irc6 tlepaon Paris:J.Corti, 968), 68-71. And, ythe ame author, 'Intgrieurt 1'ext6rieurParis:J. orti,1976).

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GILLES DELEUZE 235tenceoftheheavy ystem's endencyo find ts equilibriumt thelowestpossiblepoint, herewhere he sum ofmasses can descendnofarther,ith he endencyorise, hehighest spirationf weightlesssystem, o that lacewhere oulsaredestinedo become easonable, sin a painting y Tintoretto. he fact hat one is metaphysical ndconcerns he oul,andthat heothersphysical ndconcerns odies,does not prevent he two vectors rom omposing ne and the sameworld, ne and thesame house.Andnotonly rethey eparated ff sfunctions fan ideal lineactualized n one story ndrealized n theother, uta higher orrespondenceeaselessly elates hemto eachother.This kind of house architectures not a constant f art orthought.What s specifically aroque s thisdistinction,hispartition-ing nto wo tories. he Platonic radition new distinction etweentwoworlds. t knew heworld f nnumerabletories, racing descentand a climbthatconfrontedach other n every tepof a stairwaywhich ost tself n the minence f heOne andfell partntothe eaofthe multiple-the stairway-universeftheneo-Platonic radition.But the world f onlytwo stories, eparated y a foldwhichreverbe-rates n both ides naccordancewithdifferentrders,s thepreemi-nentBaroque nnovation.t expresses hetransformationf the cos-mos into"mundus."Amongthe so-calledBaroque painters, intoretto nd El Grecostand ut, ncomparable. ndyetthey hare hischaracteristicf heBaroque. The Entombment f the Count of Orgaz is, forexample,dividedn twobya horizontaline,and belowthe bodiessqueeze upagainst neanother, hileabovethesoulrises,na thin oil,awaitedbyholymonads ach ofwhich sendowedwith ts own pontaneity.ntheworks fTintoretto,he ower evel howsbodiesboweddownbytheir wnheaviness, he souls stumbling, endingndfallingn thecoils ofmatter;ncontrast,heupper alf cts ike a powerfulmagnetdrawing hemup,making hem traddle heyellowfolds f ight, hefolds ffirewhich evive hebodies, nfectinghemwith vertigo,uta "vertigo f theheights." o it is withthe twohalvesof theLastJudgement.4The scission f nteriornd exteriorhusrefersacktothedistinc-

14. RegisDebray, Le Tintoret u le sentiment aniquede a vie," n Eloges Paris:Gallimard, 986), 3-57. Debrayriticizes artre or aving eenonly he ower evel fTintoretto's orks). ndJean aris, 'Espace tle regardParis: euil,1965): he nalysisof he ascensional pace" nEl Greco'sworks, 26-28 "likeCartesian iversmen husbalance arthly ravitynd divine ttraction").

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236 YaleFrench tudiestionof hetwo tories, utthis n turn eferso theFold, ctualizednthe ntimate olds hat he soul encloses n theupper tory,nd real-ized nthecoils,under he nfluencefmatter,ndgeneratedromneanother,lwayson theexterior,n the ower evel.The ideal fold sthus a Zwiefalt, foldwhich differentiatesnd self-differentiates.WhenHeideggerefersotheZwiefalt s thedifferentialfdifference(le differenciante la difference),e meansabove all thatthediffer-entiation oes not refer oundifferentiatedrigin, uttoa Differencewhichceaselessly nfolds nd foldsback from oth ides andwhichonlyunfolds nebyfolding ackthe othern a coextensivityftheunveiling ndveiling fBeing, fthepresence nd withdrawalfthebeing.'5The "duplicity"fthefold snecessarily eproducedn bothofthesides which t distinguishesndwhich t sets into a mutualrelation ydistinguishinghem: scissionn which ach term etsoffthe other, tensionn whicheach fold s extendedntothe other.The fold s undoubtedlyhemost mportantotion fMallarme-notonly henotion, utratherheoperation,heoperatoryctwhichmakes ofhim a great aroquepoet.HMrodiades already hepoemofthefold.Thefold f heworld s thefan, r"l'unanime li" [unanim-ousfold].And sometimes heopenfanmakesall thegrains fmatterriseandfall, shesand mists hrough hichone perceives hevisibleas ifthroughheholes n a veil, ccordingotheway hefolds replis]offerlimpses f he tone n the ndentationf heirnflections,foldfollowingold," evealinghe ity, ut lso tsabsence rwithdrawal,conglomeratefdust,hollowcollectivities,allucinatoryrmies ndassemblies. n the ong un,t scharacteristicf he ensual ideof he

15. Andre cala has examined he genesisof the fold n Heidegger's orks LaGenese dupli chezHeideggerforthcoming]).he notion rises etween 946 nd 1953,especiallyn "Moira," arlyGreekThinking,rans. avid Farrell rell ndFrankA.Capuzzi San Francisco: arper Row, 984); t succeeds he ntermediaryr ncident,Zwischen-fall,which ndicatedmoreof a fall. t is the "Greek" oldpar excellence,attributedo Parmenides.calapoints o a commentaryfRiezler, ho, searly s 1933,foundnParmenides "foldingfbeing,"a fold f heone nbeing ndnon-being,othdrawn ntimatelyntooneanother"Faltung); urtGoldstein, henhediscovers im-self obe Parmenidiann hisunderstandingf he iving, raws nRiezlerLa Structurede l'organisme, [Paris:Gallimard, 983], 25-29).Anotherource, ccordingoScala,wouldplayonproblems fnewperspective,ndon the method fprojection hichalready ppearsn Ddrer'sworks,nder henameof zwiefaltenubum": f., anofsky,TheLife ndArt fAlbert urer,Princeton:rincetonniversityress, 955), 59: "anoriginal nd, fonemay ay o, proto-topologicalethod fdevelopinghem solids]nsuch a waythat he facets orm coherentnet"which,whencut outofpaper ndproperlyolded here wofacetsdjoin,willformnactual, hree-dimensionalodel fthe olid nquestion"). nalogous roblemsesurfacencontemporaryainting.

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GILLES DELEUZE 237fan, f he ensual tself,o stir pthedust hrough hich neseesandwhichbetraysts inanity. ut sometimes oo,from heother, owclosed,side ofthe fan "le sceptre es rivages oses .. ce blancvolfermeue tuposes ." the cepterf osyhores .. that losedwhiteflightwhich you set down... .1),he foldno longermovestowardapulverization,ut urpasses tself rfinds tsfinalityn an nclusion,"a heaping f thickness, fferinghe miniscule omb, learly, fthesoul."The foldsinseparablerom hewind.Ventilatedy hewind, tis no longer hefold fmatter hrough hichone sees, butthefold fthe oul n whichone reads, yellow olds f hought,"heBookorthemonadwithmultiple eaves. So it contains ll folds, incethe set ofpossiblecombinations f ts leaves s infinite; ut t includesthemwithin tsenclosurendall of tsactions re nternal. ndyet, hey renot two differentorlds; hefold oundn a newspaper, ustormist,inanity,s a circumstantialoldwhichmusthave ts own,novelmodeof orrespondenceith hebook, hefold f heEvent,heunitywhichgivesbeing, n inclusivemultiplicity,collectivityhathastaken nconsistency.WithLeibniz,t s notthefolds f fanbuttheveinsofmarble.Onone handthere re all thosecoils ofmatter ywhichone sees livingorganismsn themicroscope,ollectivitiessuch s armies ndherds)throughhefolds fdustswhich heyhemselvestir p,greenhroughthedustofyellow ndblue, nanities rfictions,eeming oleswhichceaselessly eed uruneasiness, ur assitude, rourdullness f pirit.Andthen, n the other and, here re thosefolds nthesoul, whereinflection ecomes nclusion justas Mallarme aid thatfolding e-comesheaping): ne no onger ees,onereads. eibnizbegins sing heword read"both or he ctwithin heprivilegedegion f hemonadandfor he ct ofGodthroughouthemonad tself.'6 t swell knownthat he otalbook s as much hedream fLeibniz s it s ofMallarme,although hey hemselves ever aveup working ragments.ur errorlies in believing hattheydid not achievewhattheywanted o-incircumstantialetters ndopuscules, hey erfectedhisuniqueBook,this book ofmonads,which could bear all dispersion s well as allcombinations.he monad s thebookorreadingoom. hevisible ndthe egible, heexteriornd the nterior,hefacade ndtheroom: heyare not two differentorlds, or he visiblehas itsown wayofbeing

16. Monadology,61: "He who ees all couldread neacheverythinghathappenseverywherendevenwhathas happened ndwillhappen .. but soul can readwithinitself nlywhat t representsistinctly."

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238 Yale French tudiesread like henewspaperorMallarme),ndthe egible as tsownkindof theateritstheater freading,n bothLeibniz ndMallarme). hecombinations fthevisible nd the egible onstitute he "emblems"orthe llegorieshatweredear o theBaroque.We re lways eingedbackto a newkind ofcorrespondencermutualexpression,inter-expression,"oldfollowingold.The Baroque s inseparable rom new regime f ight nd colors.Onecan atfirsthink f ight nddarkness s 1and0,as the wo evelsof the world eparated ya thin ine ofwaters: heHappyand theDamned.17 It snota questionhoweverf n opposition.fone movesinto heupper tory,n a roomwithout oor rwindow,nerecognizesthat t is alreadyverydark, lmost inedwithblack,"fuscum ub-nigrum." his is a Baroque nnovation:nplaceofthewhite halkorplastergroundwhichprepared picture, intoretto nd Caravagiosubstitute dark eddish-brownnwhich hey lacethedeepest had-ows,painting irectly nto t andshading ff owardsheshadows.'8The statusofthepainting hanges, hings urgeup from heback-ground,olorswell up from commondepthwhich attests o theirobscurenature,hefiguresredefinedmorebytheir overinghanbytheir ontour. ut this s notin opposition o light, his s, on thecontrary,yvirtueof the newregime flight.Leibnizsaysin theProfessionf aith f hePhilosopher:It lips, sthough hroughslitin themidstofshadows." s one tounderstandt as comingfrombasementwindow,rom narrow,ent rfolded pening, ythe nter-mediaryfmirrors,hewhite onsistingof great umber f mall,reflective irrors"? ore trictlypeaking, hemonadsbeingwithoutslits,a luminosity as been "sealedin," which ightsup in each ofthemwhen t sraised ptoreason,ndwhich roduceswhite hroughall the ittle nteriormirrors.helight ives ff hite, ut t alsogivesoff hadow s well; itgivesoffwhite,whichblendswiththe ightedsection f hemonad, utwhichdarkens r shadesoffoward hedimbackground,fuscum," romwhichthings merge through ell ex-ecuted shadows and hues in varying egrees f ntensity." s with

17. On theLeibniziannventionfbinaryrithmetic,n ts wo haracters,and0,on the inkwith he"Chinese iguresfFohy,"f., nvention e arithmetique inaire,Explication e larithmetique inaire n LeibnizMathematischechriften,d. C. I.GerhardtBerlin:A. Asher, 849-63),vol. 7. The reader s referredo theannotatededition yChristianeremont,eibniz, iscours ur a thgologieaturelle esChinois(Paris:L'Herne, 987).18. Cf.,Goethe'sTheory fColours, rans. ndnotesby C. L. Eastlake London:Frank ass & Co., 1967), ? 902-09.

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GILLES DELEUZE 239Desargues, t s enough o nvert erspectivertoput"the uminous nplace of heeye, heopaque nplaceof heobject, ndshadow n placeofprojection""Preceptes our vanceressciences," hilosophischenSchriften),ol.7, 169;NewEssays, , chap. , ? 8).Wolfflintressed helessonof heprogressivityf lightwhichwaxes ndwanes, ransmit-tedbydegrees.t stherelativityf ightasmuch s ofmovement),heinseparabilityf ight nddark, he effacementfcontour,nshort,rebuttal oDescartes,whoremained man oftheRenaissance, romthe doubleperspectivefa physics f ight nd ofa logicofthe dea.What s lightplunges easelessly nto shadow.Chiaroscuro illsthemonad ccordingo a serieswhich an befollowednbothdirections:at one end the darkbackground,t theother ealed ight; he atter,when t ights p,produceswhite nthe ection et asidefort,butthewhitegrows immer nddimmer, ields o darkness nddeepeningshadow s itspreads ut towards hedarkbackgroundhroughouthemonad.Beyond his seriesthere s on the one handGod,who com-manded hat here e light, ndwith t themirror-white,ut on theother and there reshadows, n absoluteblack,whichconsist n aninfiniteumber fholeswhich o notreflectherays hat all nthem,an infinitelypongynd cavernousmatterwhichultimatelyonsistsof lltheseholes. 9Does the ine of ight, rthefold f hetwo tories,pass between heshadows nd thedarkbackground hich t drawsfrom hem? n the final nalysis tdoes, nsofar s the ower torysnothingbut a basementhollowedout by basements, nd matter,pushed away beneath hewaters, s reduced lmost tonothing. utconcretematter s above, ts holesalready illedwith n increasinglysubtlematter,o thatthe foldofthe two stories s more ike thecommon imitbetween wokindsoffullfolds.The entry f Germany nto thephilosophical ceneimplies thewholeGerman oul,which, ccordingoNietzsche, hows tself obeless "profound"hanfull ffolds nd coils.20How is one to paint heportrait fLeibniz thepersonwithout ncludingn it the extremetension etween nopenfacade nd closed nterior,ach ndependentand bothregulated ya strange, reestablishedorrespondence?t isan almost chizophrenicension. eibniz s depictedn terms f theBaroque."Leibniz s more nterestinghanKant as thetypeof theGerman: asy-going,ull fnoblewords, ly, upple,malleable, medi-

19. Black, he omber ackground"fuscumubnigrum"),olors,white nd ight redefinednLeibniz, Tablede definitions"n Opuscules tfragments,89.20. Friedrich ietzsche, eyondGood andEvil,8,? 244.

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240 Yale French tudiesatorbetween hristianityndmechanisthilosophy),ith, xcept orhis ownperson,nenormousudacity,idden nder maskand cour-teously mportunate,modest in appearance.... Leibniz is dangerous,a goodGermanwhoneedsfacadesndphilosophiesf acades, utrashand, nhimself,smysteriouss can be".2' Thecourtly ig s afacade,an entrance,ike the wish never o shock established eelingsn anyway, nd the artofpresentingissystem rom arying iewpoints,nsuch or such a mirror,ccordingo thepresumed ntelligence f acorrespondentr of contradictor hoappears t thedoor,whiletheSystemtselfiesabove, urningn tself,osing bsolutely othingnthe ompromises elow,n the owerevelwhose ecret tholds, akingrather he "bestofall sides" todeepen tself rto createyetanotherfold,n theroom f loseddoors ndwalled-inwindowswhere eibnizhas enclosedhimself, aying: verythings "always he samething-once the degrees fperfectionave been set aside."The finestnventors,hefinest ommentatorsftheBaroque, is-mayed ytheway hat, espite hem, henotion hreatenedo extendarbitrarily,ave had doubts bout ts consistency. he Baroquewasthus restrictedo a singlegenre architecture),r to an increasinglyrestrictiveeterminationfperiods nd ocations, r even o a radicaldenial.The Baroquenever xisted. till, t s odd to deny heexistenceof heBaroquenthe ameway s one denies heexistence funicornsorpink lephants. or n the atter ase theconcepts already given,while n the case oftheBaroque t is a question fknowingwhetherone can invent concept apable ornot)ofgiving t existence. rreg-ularpearls exist,butthe Baroquehas no reason to exist withoutconceptwhichforms hat ery eason. t s easy o deprive heBaroqueof ts existence, t is enoughnot to propose ts concept.There s nofundamentalifferenceetweenwonderingfLeibniz s theBaroquephilosopher ar excellence, r if he formulates concept apableofbringinghe Baroque tself nto existence. n thisrespect, hosewhohave linked Leibniz and theBaroquehave done so byvirtue f anexcessively roadconcept, s with Knecht nd the "coincidence fopposites."ChristineBuci-Glucksmann roposes much more n-terestingriterion,dialectic etween ightnd eeing voir tregard],but thiscriterions perhaps oo restrictives well and would onlyallowfor hedefinitionf noptical old.22 or s, however,he riteri-

21. CitedbyErnst ertram,ietzsche,Rieder dition),33.22. HerbertKnecht, a Logique de Leibniz,essai sur e rationalisme aroque,(Lausanne:L'Age 'homme, 981);Christine uci-Glucksmann,a Folie du voir, e

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GILLES DELEUZE 241on or theoperative oncept ftheBaroque s theFold, nits full om-prehension nd extension: olduponfold. fone can extend he Ba-roquebeyond recisehistoricalimits,t seems to us that t s alwaysbyvirtue f his riterion, hich llowsustorecognizeMichauxwhenhewrites To live nthefolds," rBoulez whenhe invokesMallarmeandcomposes"Foldupon fold," r Hantai whenhe creates methodout offolding. nd f, n the ontrary,e gobackfurthernto hepast,how mightwe already avetofind heBaroque n,for xample,Uc-cello?Because he is not content o paintblueand pinkhorses, nd todraw ances ike streaks f ight irected oward ll thepoints f ky;he is foreverrawing mazocchi,which arecirclesofwood coveredwithclothandplacedon thehead,such thatthe foldsof thefabric,whenpulled back, urroundheentire ace";he runsup against heincomprehensionfhis contemporaries,ecause "thepower fdevel-oping bsolutely ll thingsndthe trangeeries ffolded oods eemmorerevealinghanthemagnificent arble iguresf thegreatDo-natello."23 herewouldthusbe a Baroque ine,passed down n strictaccordancewith thefold nd which couldbring ogether rchitects,painters,musicians,poets,philosophers. f course, t could be ob-jectedthattheconcept f thefold tself emains oo broad: o speakonly f heplastic rts,whatperiod nd what tyle ouldfail osee inthefold painted r culptedine?And t s notonly lothing,ut lsothebody, ocks, hewaters, he earth,ine itself. altrusaitis efinesthefoldngeneral y cission, ut scissionwhich auses each of hetwo splitterms o set each other ffnew. t is in this sense thathedefines heromanesque oldbythescission/setting-offf thefigur-ative ndgeometry.24ould one not s well define heOriental old ythe cission/setting-offf mptyndfull?Andall theotherswillhaveto be definedn turn y comparativenalysis.Uccello's folds renottruly aroquebecausethey emain aughtngeometricalolids,poly-gonal, nflexibletructures,owevermbiguous heymaybe. Ifwewishto maintain heoperativedentityf heBaroque ndthefold,wemust hen howthat nall other ases thefold emainsimitedwhilein theBaroque texperiences limitless elease,whoseconditions an

1'esthetique aroque, Paris:Galilee, 1986):theauthor evelops conception f theBaroque hatdraws nLacan andMerleau-Ponty.23. MarcelSchwob,Vies maginaires,Paris: 0/18), 29-31.24. Jurgis altrusaitis, ormations, eformations,Paris: Flammarion, 986),chap.9.

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242 Yale French tudiesbe determined. he folds eemtotake eave of their upports, loth,granite, nd cloud, to enter nto an infiniteompetition, s in theChristn the GardenofGethsemane fEl Greco theone in the Na-tionalGallery). relse,notablyntheBaptism fChrist,hecounter-fold f calf nd knee,where heknee seems the nversion fthe calf,lends n nfinitendulationo the eg,whilethepinching f hecloudin the center transformst into a double fan.... It is these charac-teristicsigorouslynterpretedhatmust ccount or he xtremepec-ificity fthe Baroque nd for he possibility fexpandingt, withoutarbitraryxtension,eyondtshistoricalimits: heBaroque's ontri-bution o art ngeneral, eibniz's ontributiono philosophy.

1. TheFold: TheBaroque nvents he nfinite orkoroperation.The problems nothowtofinish fold, uthowtocontinuet,make tgo throughheroof,ake t to nfinity.or hefold ffectsotonly llkindsofmaterials, hich husbecomematter fexpressionn accor-dancewithdifferentcalesandspeeds ndvectorsthemountains ndthewaters, apers, abrics,iving issues, hebrain), ut talso deter-mines ndbrings ormntobeing nd nto ppearance,tmakesof t aform fexpression, estaltung,hegenetic lementor the line ofinfinitenflexion,hecurve f singlevariable.

2. The Interior nd theExterior: he infinite oldseparates, rpasses betweenmatter ndthesoul,the facade nd thesealedroom,the nteriornd the exterior. orthe ine of nflections a virtualityceaselessly ifferentiatingtself: ctualizednthe oul t s realizednits own way n matter.t is theBaroquecharacteristic:n exterioralways ntheexterior,n interiorlways nthe nterior.tis charac-terized s an nfinitereceptivity,"ndan nfinitespontaneity"-theexterior acade or eceiving,he nteriorhambers or ction. venupthroughur own timeBaroquearchitectureontinues o place twoprinciplesnconfrontation:weight-bearingrinciplend a coveringorfacing rinciplewhethernGropius r nLoos).25 heconciliationofthetwo willnot be direct utnecessarily armonious,nspiringnewharmony; he amething,he ine, s expressedntherising f heinterior ong ofthesoul, by memory rby heart, s in the extrinsiccreation f hematerial f hemusical core, rom ause to cause.But,

25. Bernard ache,LAmeublement u territoire.

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GILLES DELEUZE 243thefact s precisely hat-the expressed oes not existbeyond tsexpressions.

3. TheHigh and theLow: Theperfect armonyf hescission, rtheresolution f ension,s effectedy hedistributionf wo tories,whichbothbelong o oneandthe ameworldthe ineof heuniverse).The matter-facadeends ownwards hile he oul-chamberises.Theinfinite oldthuspasses between wo stories.Butin differentiatingitself,t swarms ver oth ides:thefold ifferentiatestself ntofolds,which nsinuate hemselvesntothe nterior ndoverflow nto theexterior,rticulatinghemselvesnto thehighandthe ow.Coils ofmatterwhenconditionedyexteriority,olds f he oul whencondi-tionedbyenclosure. oils ofthemusicalscore nd folds fthe song.TheBaroque s thepreeminentnformalrt:on theground,tgroundlevel, t hand, tcompriseshe exturesfmatterthegreatmodern a-roquepainters,rom aul Klee toFautrier,ubuffet,ettencourt.But he nformalsnotthenegation f orm;tposits ormsfolded, sexisting nlyas "mental andscape," n the soul or themind, t aheight;t thus ncludes mmaterial olds swell.Thekinds fmatterconstitutehebase,but the folded hapesare its forms. ne movesfrommaterials o forms. romgrounds ndterrains o habitats ndsalons.FromTexturologyoLogology. hese are the twoorders,hetwostories fDubuffet,nd thediscoveryf theirharmony, hichmustgoall theway o thepoint f ndiscernability:s it a texture,rafoldofthe soul, ofthought?26 atterwhichreveals ts texture e-comesmaterial,nthewaythatformwhichrevealsts folds ecomespower. t is thepair material-power hich, n theBaroque, eplacesmatter ndformtheprimitiveorces eing hoseofthesoul).4. The Unfold: certainly ottheopposite f hefold, or ts efface-ment, utthecontinuation rtheextensionf tsact, hecondition fitsmanifestation. hen hefold eases to be representedndbecomesa "method,"noperation,nact, heunfold ecomes heresult f heactwhich s expressednpreciselyhatway.Hantaibeginsbyrepre-

26. On "the woorders," aterial nd mmaterial,f.,Jean ubuffet,rospectus ttous6crits uivants, ollected ndpresented y HubertDamisch, Paris:Gallimard,1967),vol. 2, 79-81. Cf., lso theCataloguedes travaux e jean Dubuffet,d. MaxLoreau Paris:Minuit, 964): "Tablespaysagees, aysages u mental"; nd "Habitats,Closerie albala, alond'ete" the ogological abinet s a veritablenteriorf monad).

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244 Yale French tudiessenting hefold-tubular, eeming-but oonfolds hecloth rpaper.Then there re, s it were, wopoles, heone of he "Studies" nd theone ofthe "Tables."Sometimes, he surfaces locally nd rregularlyfolded, nd the xterioridesof heopened old repainted, o that hespreading-out,heopening,heunfoldingause thefields f olor ndthe zones of white to alternate,modulatingnewiththe other.Atother imes, t s the olidwhichprojectsts nternal lanesonto flatsurface,egularlyoldednaccordance ith he dges:nowthefold asaresting oint,t s knottedndclosed t each ntersectionndunfoldsto set the nterior hite ntocirculation.27ere, ettinghe color nthe coils ofmatter o vibrate, here ettinghe ightnthefolds f nimmaterial urfaceo vibrate. ndyet,why s it that heBaroque ineis only a possibility orHantai? Because he never tops running pagainst nother ossibility,hich s the ineof heOrient. hepaintedandthenon-paintedrenotdistributeds formndbackground,ut sfullnessnd emptinessn a reciprocal ecoming.Which swhyHantaileaves the eyeofthefold mptyndonlypaints hesides lineoftheOrient); ndyet t sometimes appens hat nthe ameregion ewillmake succession f oldswhichno ongereave ny mpty paces thefullBaroque ine).Perhapst sprofoundlyharacteristicf heBaroqueto set tselfn confrontationith heOrient.t salreadyhe asewithLeibniz'sundertakingnbinaryrithmetics:n oneand zero Leibnizrecognizes ullness ndemptinessna typically hinesemanner,uttheBaroqueLeibnizdoes not believe n emptiness,whichalwaysseems to himfull of a coiledmatter,nd consequently is binaryarithmetics uperposes he folds which the decimal system, ndNatureherself,onceals n apparentlympty paces.ForLeibnizandtheBaroque, olds realways ull.285.Textures: eibnizian hysics omprises woprincipal eadings,oneconcerningheactive, rso-calledderivative,orceswhichrelatetomatter,he other hepassiveforces,heresistance fthematerial:textureOntextures,f., etter o Des Bosses,August1715.Leibniz's

27. On Hantai and themethod ffolding, f.,MarcelinPleynet,dentitg e lalumiere,catalogueArcaMarseille). nd lsoDominique ourcade, ncoupdepinceauc'est a pensse, catalogue,Paris:Centre ompidou); vesMichaud,Metaphysique deHantai;catalogueVenice): enevieve onnefoi, antai;Paintings,Watercolors971-1975 NewYork: ierreMatisse, 975).28. Leibniz ounted nhis binaryrithmeticso reveal periodicitynthenumberseries a periodicity hichNatureperhaps oncealed in itscoils") as wellas for heprimaryumbersNewEssays, ,chap.17, ? 13).

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GILLES DELEUZE 245physics estifies oa consistentnterestnproblems ftheresistanceofmaterials).t sperhaps t ts imit hat exturesbestrevealed,ustbefore upturertearing, henspreadings no longer pposed othefoldbut expresses t in itspurestate, n accordancewith a Baroquefigure ndicatedby Bernard ache (hysteresismore thanspreading).Hereagain, hefold ushesbackgroovendhole; t doesnotbelong othesame pictorial ision. As a general ule, t is theway n whichmatter

folds hat onstitutetstexture:t s definedessby tsheterogeneousandgenuinely istinct arts hanby hemanner nwhich, yvirtue fparticular olds, hesepartsbecome nseparable. rom hatone getsthe oncept fMannerismn tsoperatoryelationotheBaroque.Andthis s whatLeibnizwas talking boutwhenhe referredo "paper rtunic." verythingolds n tsownway,herope ndthe tick s well ascolors,which eparate ut naccordance ith he oncavityrconvex-ity f heray f ight,ndsounds,whichrise npitch naccordance s"the remblingarts re horterndtighter."exturehusdepends otontheparts hemselves,utonthestratawhichdetermineheir co-hesion": thenew statusoftheobject, tsobject-matterobjectile],sinseparable romhevarious tratawhichdilate, ikesomany ppor-tunities ordetours ndcoils. Relative o the foldswithin ts power,matter ecomesmatterf xpression.nthis espect,hefold fmatterortexturemustbe seen nrelation o several actors,irst fall light,chiaroscuro,heway nwhich hefold atches ight, heway tvariesaccordingo thetimeofday ndthe ort f lluminationthe ontem-poraryesearch fTromeur nd NicoleGrenot). utalsoinrelation odepth:how thefold tself etermines "shallowdepth"whichcanbesuperposed. ere,thepaperfolddefines minimum fdepth nourscale,as is seen ntheBaroque rompe-1ceiletter olders,where herepresentationf dog-earedard hrowswhat iesonthis ideof hewall intodepth. o itis with hesoft ndsuperposed epth ffabricswhichhas served s an unending nspirationo painting nd whichHelgaHeinzenhas, nour ime, arriedo a newpowerwhen, hebodyconsigned o absence, herepresentationfstriped ndfolded lothcovers n entire aintingn fallsandelevations,n swells andsuns,followinglinethat omes, his ime, romslam.Or again he heater

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246 Yale French tudiesofmaterials, hen material aught, ardenednitsspread-outtateor tshysteresis,an assume felicityf xpressionn tself hefolds fanothermatter,s inthewood culpturesfRenonciat, here edar fLebanon urns ntoplasticdrop-cloth,rParafia ine nto"cotton ndfeathers."nshort, heway nwhich ll these extures fmatter endtoward higher oint, spiritual ointwhichenvelops orm,whichholds t enveloped ndwhich lonecontains he ecret f hematerialfolds elow.Where othese atter low rom, iven hat hey annot eaccounted orby the constituant arts nd that the "teeming," heperceptual isplacementfcontours,omesfromheprojectionntomatter f something piritual, f a fantasmagorian the orderofthought, s Dubuffet ays. Though in anotherway,the sculptorJeanclos onetheless reads n analogouspathwhen he movesfromthe nfinitelyoiled,knotted,ndcrimped hysicaleavesofcabbage,orfrom heets nfinitelypread ut,tometaphysical eas, spiritualsleepers rmonadheadswho givefullmeaning otheexpression thefolds f leep".29Active rpassive, hederivativeorces fmatter eferbackto theprimitiveorces,hoseof he oul.Always hetwo tories,and theirharmony,heir armonization.

6. TheParadigm:The searchfor modelofthe foldproceeds ywayof choiceofmatter.s it thepaper old, s theOrient uggests,rthe foldofcloth,which eems topredominatenthe Occident?Thecruxofthe question s that hematerial omponentsfthe fold thetexture)mustnothide heformal lement rtheform f xpression.nthisregardheGreek oldsunsatisfactory,houghtrightlyspires ocurrencyn thehighest ealms, olitical ower,hepower f hought-the Platonicparadigmfweaving s a mesh remains n the eveloftextures utdoes notdraw uttheformal lements f hefold. or heGreek old, s thePolitics nd the Timaeusdemonstrate,resupposesa commonmeasurebetween woterms hatmix andthereforeper-atesbymeansofcircularmovements hich orrespondo therepeti-tionof heproportion.his s thereason hat hePlatonic orms old,but never eachtheformal lement f the fold.The latter an onlyappearwith he nfinite,n the ncommensurablendtheextravagant,when the variable urvehas unseated he circle On thepresence r

29. Jeanclos-Moss6,culptures tdessins,Orleans:Maisonde a culture).

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GILLES DELEUZE 247absenceof "commonmeasure," f., eibniz, On Freedom"n Philo-sophicalPapers nd Letters, ol. 1,404-10). So it goeswiththeBa-roquefold,with tscorrespondingtatus spower f houghtndpolit-ical force.

-Translated byJonathantrauss