lovecraft through deleuzio-guattarian gates - patricia maccormack
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8/17/2019 Lovecraft Through Deleuzio-Guattarian Gates - Patricia MacCormack
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Lovecraft through Deleuzio-Guattarian Gates
Patricia MacCormack
Abstract
This essay picks up on Deleuze an Guattari!s brief invocation of the "ork of #$P$
Lovecraft$ Deleuze an Guattari!s pro%ect to evelop a philosophy of sorcery as a moe
of thought that gestures to"ar becoming-imperceptible is consiere by reaing
e&les in Lovecraft!s 'cosmic horror' of the terrors an revolutions available through
the becomings of his protagonists$ Conte&tualising his "ork outsie of traitional
genres of fantasy an science fiction( this essay offers the reaing of Lovecraft!s
"ritings as a passing through gates$ This liberating practice prouces encounters "ith
abstract alterity( beginning "ith the ethical consieration of the preliminary otherness of
"omen an the animal in Deleuze an Guattari!s "ork( via becoming-monstrous( to an
infinite territory beyon representation( signification( an perception itself$
)n A Thousand Plateaus Gilles Deleuze an *+li& Guattari invoke #$P$ Lovecraft five
times$ ,hile Lovecraft is mentione together "ith such literary figures as Moritz( ,oolf
an particularly Melville( his "ork has less in common "ith those authors than "ith the
abstract emonology of Deleuze an Guattari!s 'ecoming-)ntense' .sec$ /01$ Deleuze
an Guattari claim that Lovecraft 'attempte to pronounce sorcery!s final "or' .TP
23/4 sec$ /01( although Lovecraft has receive little attention in comparison "ith other
"riters loosely groupe into the usually maligne genres of fantasy( science fiction an
gothic horror$ )n this essay ) pull out the evocations in Deleuze an Guattari!s five
references to the story Lovecraft "rote "ith 5$ #offman Price( Through the Gates of the
Silver Key .hereafter TGSK 1( an offer sketches of the "ays in "hich becomings proliferate through Lovecraft!s "ork( in particular throughout his !cosmic horror!
"riting$ ) argue that Lovecraft may offer an affirming philosophy of becoming that
renegotiates traitional perceptions of his "ork as nihilistic or purely horrific$ )n this
"ay ) propose Lovecraft as a catalyst for a philosophical negotiation of the politics of
sub%ectivity an alterity$
This essay is meant to present a series of possibilities an ieas an not a efinitive
summary of stories( so moments from stories are mentione "ithout e&plication or
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reference to narratives or events$ Lovecraft!s "ork rarely privileges event an narrative(
"hich ) unerstan as an oeuvre of relations that at their simplest should not be$ The
primary concept unerpinning becomings for Deleuze an Guattari is also relations
"hich refuse relationships that enforce resemblance$ y reaing Lovecraft through
Deleuze an Guattari( ) propose an alternate interpretation of Lovecraft!s "ork as
e&pressing a vitalistic philosophy an inspiring an ethics that aresses the structures of
self posite "ith an as socio-cultural otherness$ ecomings are not commensurate "ith
uni6ue singularities but are prouce from unlike relations$ Lovecraft!s cosmic horror
"orks are obsesse "ith the iea of relations that inevitably structure an unerpin
human e&istence but that remain unkno"n to the human$ The becoming "ith "hich
Lovecraft!s humans participate comes from the 5ler Gos or more usually the Ancient
7nes( a pantheon compose by Lovecraft from various Assyrio-abylonian(
Mesopotamian an particularly ancient 8umerian cacoemons$ The 5ler Gos act as
gatekeepers for the Ancient 7nes or Great 7nes( a group of creatures associate "ith
the terror of possibly unleashing a "orl of hybri relations "ith humans "hich "oul
either "ipe humans out or( if the Great 7nes entere into becomings( "oul "ipe out
sub%ectivity an perception as "e kno" it$ The Ancient 7nes are presente in etail in
Lovecraft!s The Necronomicon( "ritten uner the pseuonym Abul Alhazre( "hich
can be unerstoo together "ith other apocryphal te&ts such as Eibon$ These same
emons appear in the panemonium of Milton!s Paradise Lost ( in 8atan!s fallen lan(
but the iea of a pantheonic pack or a multiplicity "ithin the one an a oneness of the
multiple also resonates "ith the Devil!s response to 9esus!s 6uestion about his ientity:
') am legion( for "e are many' . Holy Bible( Mark 3:;1$ The reaful realisation
overcomes Lovecraft!s protagonists that they have al"ays been in relation "ith an
relate to monstrous entities$ )n this conte&t 8$T$ 9oshi evaluates Lovecraft as an
activating "riter: '<=>ealism is ? not a goal but a function in Lovecraft4 it facilitates
the perception that !something "hich coul not possibly happen! is actually happening'
.@@1$ 9oshi emphasizes that Lovecraft is both an neither a "riter of fantasy fiction
annor of realism$ This claim resonates "ith the crucial element of becoming in
Deleuze an Guattari( namely that becomings are not metaphors an o not occur in a
theatre of representation but rather actualize potentialities of thought$
,hile many of Lovecraft!s stories inclue the atmospheric suspense of gothic fiction
an the preictive elements of science-fiction( his escriptions of fantastic states are
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base on a refine kno"lege of physics an a commitment to immersing both the
characters an the reaer in the cosmic horror$ ) argue here that Lovecraft shoul be
unerstoo as a "riter "ho is not against realism but rather "ho attempts to fin a ne"
realism-mobilisation$ Michael #ouellebec6 claims that Lovecraft avois precision '"ith
regars to the istribution of <the Ancient 7nes!> po"ers an abilities$ )n fact their e&act
nature is beyon the grasp of the human min$? those humans "ho seek to kno" more
ineluctably pay "ith maness an eath' .B@1$ Poststructuralism enables us to translate
'maness' as schiz-sub%ectivity an 'eath' as the eath of reifie ientity that is
launching upon becomings$ *or Lovecraft( monsters are not aberrant versions of the
human$ They are monstrous( that is( not in form( but on the levels of perception an
possibility$ ,hat emerges in Lovecraft is that the human is a vague( strategic myth for
ensuring sanity an thus traitional sub%ectivity through a belief in like relations$ The
human is of( inee perhaps create by( monsters that are horrific not only in their
hybri incarnations but also in the impossibility of their being perceive through human
moes of apprehension4 this sho"s that the human is nothing more than its o"n
fantastical myth an the infinite possibility of the beyon "hich is also the "ithin$ The
horror e&perience by Lovecraft!s protagonists nee not close off the possibility that his
reaers "oul negotiate their o"n sub%ectivity an elements of alterity as a specific
system of po"er$ eyon authorial intent( Lovecraft can eman( perhaps raically( a
issipation of po"ers that are contingent on the maintenance of the category of human$
This is the political conte&t of this essay$ Maligne as se&ist an racist( Lovecraft
ironically catalyzes the becomings of the human through infinite an abstracting
paraigms( an thereby re6uires his reaers to reorient po"er relations( along the lines
of poststructuralist( feminist( an postcolonial strategies alike$ Thus 9oshi is correct to
escribe Lovecraft!s "riting as functional $ Lovecraft himself e&plains that supernatural
horror in literature 'emans from the reaer a certain egree of imagination an a
capacity for etachment from everyay life' .Suernatural Horror /21$ As 9oshi points
out( ho"ever( this oes not preclue realism$ Poststructuralism has emonstrate that
there is no simple bifurcation iviing art an thought: "hat "e create constitutes ho"
"e perceive reality( "hich then contributes to "hat "e create( but it is the
ineterminable an non-transcriptive or non-e6uivalent nature of this causality that
makes the functioning of art in life an of life in art interesting$
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Along "ith asking "hat Lovecraft means( then( "e also can ask "hat reaing Lovecraft
might do$ Donal urleson premises his poststructural reaing of Lovecraft "hich(
like 9oshi!s analysis( emphasises manner over meaning "ith the reminer that
authorial intent is inaccessible an presence remains a metaphysical phantasy .3-1$ )n
his analysis of Pic!man"s #odel ( urleson states that 'Pickman is absent because his
plural nature enies the metaphysics of presence an self-ientity$? Pickman ivies
himself against himself' .;/1$ )f the reaer oes the same( can an aress to alterity be
mobiliseE urleson interprets 'The Colour 7ut of 8pace' as offering a refutation of
systems themselves4 here( to see 'a visible impression( not belonging to this system( is
to suggest isturbance of the system an( allegorically( subversion of systems generally$
,hat is at "ork here is the unoing of categorical thinking( the unravelling of any
system claiming final mastery( e&haustive cataloguing( total solution( immutable results(
settle !reaing! of reality' ./0B1$ Mastery refuses a negotiatory ethics of ifference$
Against the allegorical emphasis of this claim( ho"ever( ) propose that the functional
activating of potentiality that oes not recognise metaphor as its o"n close circuit
sho"s ho" reaing Lovecraft may challenge close reaings an other techni6ues of
mastering "ors( boies( flesh( perception an sub%ectivity beyon the te&t into the
"orl$ Fltimately ) "ill ask: "hat i Lovecraft o to perception an "hat can "e o
"ith LovecraftE
This essay e&tens "hat Deleuze an Guattari call unnatural participation( unerstoo
as an impossible yet compulsory relation to the perception of cosmic horrors( in orer to
rethink the category of the human$ The figure of gates of perception posits relation as an
opening up rather than as an elliptical return to genesis$ Through emonic relations
Deleuze an Guattari seek abstract machines of relation that are no less real for being
abstract( an argue( along "ith 9oshi( that Lovecraft is a realist because of the functionrather than the content of his "ork$ This means that Lovecraft!s "ritings can be
unerstoo in a "ier( political conte&t instea of as belonging to a genre "hich
istances itself from social life$ Deleuze an Guattari connect this iea to 8pinoza!s
claim that ethics is prouce not by commensurable relation( "hich privileges .usually1
one form an function over another( but rather by "hat is prouce bet"een the t"o$
Lovecraft!s literature offers an art event that is no less real for catalysing ne" gates of
perception an possibilities of relation$ y accessing Lovecraft!s necronomic gates
to"ar the infinite an imperceptible but also the immanently present( "e are force to
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think( first( potentiality as an encounter "ith alterity( an( secon( the political risks an
imperatives of ourselves as becoming-other$ This essay is structure as a series of
'gates' in the sense of those briges that Deleuze an Guattari( in $hat is Philosohy(
escribe as creating a 'ne" concept of perceptual space' ./;1$ As becomings concern
not "hat structures relationships .bet"een t"o reifie entities1( but "hat is prouce
through unnatural relations( gates of Lovecraftian perception open "hat Deleuze an
Guattari call unhear of becomings not unhear of because they have never been
hear before( but because they cannot be hear through establishe( ma%oritarian
vocalisations$
)n 'ecoming )ntense' Deleuze an Guattari escribe abstract planes of consistency
"ith reference to sorcery( ergson( 8pinoza( haecceity( plane-making( molecules(
secrets( points( an blocks$ one of these are abstractions or fantasies in the sense that
they o not concern the material$ They are abstract in the sense that the material is
al"ays concerne "ith planes$ Ma%oritarian structures of perception create planes that
are atrophie( aamantly hear of( an able-to-be-hear before their vocalisation
arrives$ Lovecraft!s reaer is not confronte "ith "hat happens to "hom an "hy( but
"ith the unbearable reality of effectuation of unhear-of relations "ithout perception as
e&ternal( causal an commensurable apprehension( "hich is to say "ith a miasmic
material reality: 'a plane of consistency people by anonymous matter( by infinite bits
of impalpable matter entering into varying connections' .Deleuze an Guattari( TP
2331( Hia 8pinoza but primarily as sorcerers( an through Lovecraft( Deleuze an
Guattari thus offer an ethics of becomings "hose main phases are: /1 relations "ithout
likeness( 21 entities "ithout form or function( @1 relations "hich are nonetheless real in
spite of their abstract nature an the abstracting of the entities( I1 these relations forcing
alternate moes of perception "ithout laying ne" structures of apprehension( finallyleaing to 31 the function of art as catalysing becomings in the reaer by emaning
alternate perceptions of relation "ith any an all entities$ As Deleuze an Guattari point
out( these all occur on the same abstract plane$
There is no leaving behin Lovecraft "hen "e close his pages$ Lovecraft!s "ork may be
fantasy( the monsters fictive( the narratives fragmentary( but the relation to possibilities
of thought through imperceptible though terrifically present entities is a gate through
"hich the reaer enters becomings that ifferentiate all relations on a plane of
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consistency$ Against 9oshi( Colin ,ilson claims that Lovecraft "as oppose to realism
an particularly to materialism$ ,hat is at stake here is not "hether Lovecraft
personally re%ecte materialism but "hether his negotiation of perception itself has
material effects in the post-structural sense of re-negotiating signifying systems an
relations of ifference an otherness in the "orl$ ,ilson titles his chapter on Lovecraft
the 'Assault on =ationality$' =ationality has traitionally been the realm of ominant(
logocentric( ma%oritarian systems$ ,ilson emphasizes Lovecraft!s obsession "ith the
monstrous( an raiotti the efinition of monster as any eviation from the base level
zero 'human$' raiotti states that 'the iscourse on monsters as a case stuy highlights
? the status of ifference "ithin rational thought' .B1$ ,ilson points out that
Lovecraft 'is "illing to make his setting moern( but it must be remote from
civilisation( a kin of amission of efeat' .I1$ This tenency evinces Lovecraft!s
interest in escribing the connective affectivity of fantastic perception an "orl( rather
than a non-terrestrial ystopia$ *or this reason the political 6uestion becomes 'efeat of
"hatE' *rom a politics of alterity "e coul argue that Lovecraft "orks to efeat the
e&ertion of perception an kno"lege( for the e&ertion of po"er opens the "ay for other
forms of sub%ectivity to emerge$
Lovecraft!s oeuvre falls into t"o categories$ 7ne encompasses more familiar tales of
terror foun in horror stories an novels of the late eighteenth to early nineteenth
centuries4 the other is base on the great Lovecraft mythos$ The stories base on the
mythos aress three main phases$ The first( "hich Lovecraft calls 'transition' or
'mutation(' e&presses the becoming.s1 of protagonists as they begin to corporeally an
psychologically articulate inflection "ith alternate genera( terrestrial teratological an
alien .a ivision that is in fact unclear in Lovecraft1$ The secon is the entering into the
"orls( or( in keeping "ith his isinterest in isambiguation( the omains occupie bythese creatures as gos$ The thir is the istortion of perception$ Lovecraft "as
responsible for creating entire pantheons( universes( "orls( an alternate temporal
realities of evolution an alien e&istence$ The key element "hich ifferentiates Deleuze
an Guattari!s almost %ubilant citation of Lovecraft!s ieas is the lack of attention to
"hat most Lovecraft commentators misguiely call( as oes Michael #ouellebec6 in
the title of his seminal book( Lovecraft!s proclivity against life$ The 6uality of one!s
%ourney to"ar Lovecraft shoul take into account the efinitions of such terms as
'life(' 'human(' an other 5arthly tenets of thoughts( apprehensions of form an
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perceptions of states$ Challenging the category of the human unerpins all becomings(
beginning "ith the most obvious falling a"ay from the hu'Man' to "oman( animal an
eventually abstract particles( sonority( an inhuman planes$ Apparently in contraiction
"ith his premise that Lovecraft!s "ork sho"s a nihilistic "eariness "ith life(
#ouellebec6 in fact claims in his preface that through Lovecraft "e can live in poetry
.231$ ,ith the help of Deleuze an Guattari( this essay ultimately e&plores the reaers!
passing through the gates of Lovecraftian perception( "hich involves the creation of a
speech( from the unspeakable to the !unsayable!4 incommensurable relations "hich take
the very acts of "riting an speech to their limits4 accessing the outsie an the
unthinkable4 but "hich are also( an in contraistinction to ,ilson!s claim( is no less
material for oing so$ =esonant "ith speech of the unsayable( Lovecraftian perception is
perception upon a ifferent plane$ .urleson touches on this "hen he cites Derria!s
claim that 'there is nothing outsie the te&t' ./014 in this case( ho"ever( ) "oul ten
more to"ar the "ork of *oucault an lanchot( "hich introuce accountability an
responsibility into this concept$1 Lovecraft can be invigorating if rea as a "riter of the
baro6ue .through( for e&le( Deleuze!s "ork on Leibniz1 rather than( as many have
claime( the gothic4 if rea through physics as much as folklore4 an as long as one
reas an thinks of Lovecraft as an act of sorcery$ Critics such as 8iegel have claime
persistently that Lovecraft is a "riter of gothic fiction .3/1$ This tenency arises more
from the resonance of trite a%ectives such as !haunte!( !ark!( !horrific! an so forth that
are applie to Lovecraft!s "ork( than from the ifficult task of seeing his "ork as
phylum$ #ybri becomings( ho"ever( coul help reaers escribe Lovecraft as a "riter
of the baro6ue rather than of the gothic .see MacCormack( 'aro6ue )ntensity'1$
=elating to themes an places more moern .though emphatically anti-moernist1 than
the abbey-boun turpitue of G$M$ Le"is an less romantic than the occultism of *$
Marion Cra"for( Lovecraft!s protagonists( ."ho are also unintereste in ram 8toker!s
socio-political tenets of inustrialisation1( are neither haunte nor houne by entities
they "ill eventually overcome$ .To be fair( ho"ever( this repuiation of the gothic is
more reaily foun in Lovecraft!s cosmic tales than in the intimate stories of rea$1
ecomings eal not "ith kins but "ith states$ The %ourneys upon "hich Lovecraft!s
protagonists( an "e as reaers( launch( are %ourneys that involve 'passing through' as
becomings( not the completion of a pro%ect of becoming "ith another element$ A
emonological philosophy after Deleuze an Guattari increasingly becomes less about
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animals an emons than about gates$ Contagion( packing( proliferation alter the
6ualities of the passing( an each gate coul be escribe as a moe of perception-
consistency$ =anolph Carter unerstans his %ourney through the gates as a 'flu& of
impressions$? <Gates lea> from earth an time to that e&tension of earth "hich is
outsie time( an from "hich in turn the Fltimate Gate leas fearsome an perilously to
the Last Hoi "hich is outsie all earths( all universes an all matter' .Lovecraft( TGSK
3/J-/1$ Carter uses the apocryphal grimoire by the Ma Arab .probably "ritten by
Lovecraft himself1( The Necronomicon$ )n The Necronomicon itself .especially in 'The
ook of 5ntrance an of ,alking(' 'The ook of Calling(' an 'The )ncantations of the
Gates'1( the names an 6ualities of encounters "ith gos are seen as gates( not entities4
so the kin or orer of the gos is also unerstoo as 6ualities of movement an as
locations that incarnate particular impression-states$ Kuality of flu&( guie by
imagination an ream over goal( opens the gates$ The use of a grimoire an con%uration
resonates "ith Deleuze an Guattari!s philosophy of sorcery( not simply because the act
of sorcery unerpins the plane of consistency in both cases( but also because in both
cases the rituals concern 'moes of e&pansion <an>? occupation' .TP 2@;4 sec$ /01$
7ccupying a place "hose territories are e&pane through various reorientations of
impression prouces an anomalous place$ Deleuze an Guattari emphasize that the
a%ective anomalous situates a position or a phenomenon of borering$ )n this sense(
gates( unerstoo as borers of becomings( are use in this essay to escribe Lovecraft!s
ifferent phases of becomings( phases "hich cannot be unerstoo in terms of causality
or of narrative logic$ The first gate aresses Deleuze an Guattari!s three moes of
animality( an Lovecraft!s iea that animality is e&emplifie by propagation$ Gate T"o
aresses the shift from recognisable animal intensity to "hat Deleuze an Guattari call
the emonic animal( "hich appears in Lovecraft as the 5ler Gos an Ancient 7nes$
Gate Three e&plores the "ay( in becomings( the categorically human is crucially absent$
Fsing Deleuze!s "ork on Leibniz( Gate *our begins to aress the move from
becomings as acts of participation "ith other elements( to the altering of moes of
perception as such an posits Lovecraft as a "riter of the baro6ue on account of his
manipulation of the physics of perception-planes$ Gate *ive conte&tualises Lovecraft!s
moes of speech( the compulsion to say the unsayable in orer to access the outsie or
"hat Deleuze an Guattari call the abstract( outsie perceptions of form( function an
comprehension but "ithin the "orl an foun in art4 in this sense the abstraction is
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no less material an real$ Gate 8i&( finally( asks "hat ethical imperatives are presente
by Lovecraft!s art$
Gate 1. Orders of Animals, Orders ofDemons
)n Deleuze an Guattari!s "ork( becomings pass through stages "hich can generally be
escribe as evolutionary( an "hich Deleuze an Guattari call 'neoevolutionary$' The
ma%oritarian sub%ect 'man' ."hich is to say( all human sub%ects1 enters into relations
"ith primary elements of minoritarian alterity( becoming-"oman( becoming-animal(an other( a-human forms( to"ar more refine( ambiguous e&pressions of content$ The
animal( ho"ever( is the primary noe for inhuman or a-human becomings$ Deleuze an
Guattari emarcate three orers of animality$ The first is the 7eipal animal( the puppy-
baby .*reu1$ 8econ is the symbolic or archetype animal( "hich creates an
immobilises itself upon a metaphoric structure of signification .9ung1$ The thir animal
is the emonic animal( in "hich t"o elements must be present the animal here is itself
a phenomenon of borering( hybriity( an metamorphicity$ Demonic animals are
efine as 'pack or affect animals that form a multiplicity( a population( a becoming( a
tale' .TP 2I/4 sec$ /01$ Hampires( "ere"olves( an emons belong to this thir orer of
animality$ ecause they are both familiar an unfamiliar to us( ho"ever( they seem to
resonate "ith the negotiations of "hat a human-animal coul be( both "hen it is
mistakenly rea through the first t"o orers of animality( an "hen its becomings are
overlooke$ )t involves a relation "ith an abstract animal$ 7eipal animality the
family puppy-baby manifests its narcissism through sub%ective o"nership '!my! cat(
!my! og' .TP 2I04 sec$ /01$ 7eipal animals affirm the self through the construction of
an anthropomorphising family system in "hich the animal is allo"e to emerge only
through conitional love that fulfills the parameters of the substitute chil$ 8ince the
animal is inferior in both its structural position an its species( it resolves the "oman!s
penis envy an the man!s castration an&iety$ The secon orer of animals is the
archetypal animal "ho is investe "ith human 6ualities an effectively only has( or
represents( human 6ualities$ These animals are e&tricate from animality( but the range
of their symbolic function is almost limitless$ oth systems in no "ay inclue animals(
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%ust human( signifying systems$ ,e nee to evelop the criti6ue further here( ho"ever(
so that the "ere"olfemonvampire is not misunerstoo as some uncanny( gothic
entity$ Lovecraft claims that he seeks 'to make the flesh creep' .6t$ in ,ilson @1 more
than to unfurl narrative through characters$ This focus on flesh irectly challenges
metaphor an the istance bet"een reaer an te&t$ As a kin of physio-cerebral
affectivity( it issolves metaphor an makes the te&t politically accountable for its
catalyzing of ifferent moes of thinking$
Demons thus belong to the thir orer of Deleuze an Guattari!s animal ta&onomy$
ecoming through a pact-pack "ith the emon also escribes the first phase of
Lovecraftian sorcery$ 7ne of the remarkable contributions Lovecraft makes to literature
is his formulation of a pantheon of gos$ Fnlike other fantasy "riters( ho"ever(
Lovecraft creates gos "ithin this "orl( "hich is also fole together "ith "orls
outsie of time an space$ As Gates( Lovecraft!s gos are responsible for the horror of
altering moes of being in the "orl( an they o so by creating the pure immanence of
multiple "orls$ Ta&onomies of monsters( orers of gos( "orls emarcate as
fantastical or real are absent in Lovecraft( an it is the very absence of these
emarcations "hich causes horror$ Lovecraft!s gos lack the signification an
sub%ectification that( accoring to Deleuze an Guattari( facilitates ma%oritarian po"er(
"hich in turn sanctions the emergence of sub%ects$ The entities "ith "hich the
protagonists enter becomings are abstract an ambiguous .as emergent entities they are
al"ays there but not entirely apprehensible1$ ecomings in Lovecraft are also
compulsory the protagonists have no choice( but "hile horror is thereby irrefutably
catalyse( it comes from the loss( an not from the estruction( of the self$ These
monsters estroy through alliance rather than murer$ Lovecraft emphasises that
becomings are alreay available an that "e al"ays alreay choose the e&tent to "hich"e resist or submit to the everyay alliances "e make$ )n this "ay he emonstrates that
retaining reifie sub%ectivity is as much an act as "oul be letting go of it$ Deleuze an
Guattari use the concept of emons to e&pan the intersection of the hybri "ith the
animal$ Aesthetic an apocryphal emons such as "ere"olves an vampires are single
e&pressions of human-animal elements( inherently metamorphic an part of packs$
8ince emons must be invoke after first being imagine as fabulations( thinking
becoming-emon for them re6uires a philosophy of sorcery$ Lovecraft!s lo"er gos are
fabulations of emons( inter-species hybris "ith orers of non-mammalian animals(
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an this Deleuzio-Guattarian ine& is "here Lovecraft!s a-human becomings begin$
Deleuze an Guattari o not offer aesthetic( cinematic or literary e&les of their
emons the evil( "ere"olves an vampires because these arise as particle verb
bans rather than as infernal monsters or as metaphorical( figurative( or symbolic
entities$ ,hen e&les are offere( they resonate aroun becomings "hich are not as
familiar to us as those of the "ere"olf an vampire$ Precisely because these monsters
emerge through so many varie e&les of actualise virtualities( ho"ever( they
remain abstract potentiality( "hereas the specific literary citations of ,oolf!s becoming-
monkey( Ahab!s becoming-"hale( an so on( are e&les of singularities before the
formation of ne" threshol packs$
Gate 2. From Demonic Heredity to
Abstract Alliance
Gate 2 focuses on the emonic in Deleuze an Guattari!s elements of becoming( as
abstract animal entities$ This Gate e&plores the liminal ban bet"een a-human( animal
elements an the emon that is beyon animal-element perception$ Lovecraft!s gos are
not monsters4 they o not belong to e&tra-human orers from "hich they threaten to
slaughter the emarcate human( an they o not resie in the entirely e&ternal fantasy
"orls that are foun in many traitional horror stories$ Ancient 7nes an 5ler Gos
are beyon *rankenstein!s creature an Dracula( an they are too earthly present to be
classifie along "ith the alien gos an monsters of fantasy novels$ *or the
renegotiation of our becomings( it is important to note that "e cannot categorise them as
outsie( either in form or in "orl$ They are immeiately present but also "ithout
presence since they are not recognisably other or antagonistic$ The 6ualities of
Lovecraft!s gos an entities are( furthermore( al"ays themselves in states of becoming$
They inclue multiple intensities an mobile 6ualities of many animals( particularly
cephalopos( fish$ an insects( as "ell as a bacterial forms of bubbling( molecular
viscosity$ As the gos are in their o"n states of becoming( their function as an
anomalous( allie term is alreay beyon our capacity to name them$ As hyper-hybris(
they also occupy territories that coul be escribe as having their o"n becomings
"ater-lan "orls( outer-space-"ithin-this space an so forth( "hat Deleuze an
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Guattari call a 'Fniverse fiber' that is 'strung across borerlines' .TP 2I;4 sec$ /01$ )n
aition( since they cannot be estroye( their states of 'life' are tentative$ They are
incapable of killing humans( but only change their state of life( as they are neither ea
nor alive$ The threshols an gates Lovecraft!s monsters force us to negotiate are
resistant( not only to being estructive monsters( but also to being hybri entities that
"e coul emarcate for our becomings$ Their 6ualities of contagion( as hybris or
outsie entities( preclue them from being monsters( an thus resonate "ith Deleuze an
Guattari!s terms for elements of becoming( from "olf-"hale-rat to emonic
imensionality an borerline propagation$ The Ancient 7nes are escribe physically
as threshol creatures both fish an fo"l( flesh an fur( a kin of sentient( amphibious
nebula from a pre-human( pre-historical time that is both more civilise an intelligent
than the human time( and barbarically uncivilise$ )nevitably an most horrifically( the
Ancient 7nes reprouce the limit restricting even hybri animality from a pure
abstraction-becoming$ The animal elements of the Ancient 7nes( "hile resiually
name as animal( are in fact cephalopoan( insect an other aamantly non-mammalian
forms$ Cthulhu is seen in bas-relief as a s6ui ragon( 'an octopus( a ragon( an a
human caricature? <"hose> pulpy tentacle hea surmounte a grotes6ue an scaly
boy "ith ruimentary "ings' .Lovecraft( 'The Call of Cthulhu(' hereafter T%% ( J@1$
Dagon is a fish-man-go .Lovecraft( 'Dagon' /J1$ The encounter bet"een protagonists
an their becoming-Ancient 7nes reflects this threshol$ Cthulhu lives a threshol
consciousness( lying ea but reaming$ The geography of Cthulhu!s fallen cities of
=!lyeh lies at the threshol of the mountains of maness( at immeasurable epths
beneath the sea .apparently near e" ealan1$ =anolph Carter!s becoming is 'human
an non-human( vertebrate an invertebrate( animal an vegetable' .Lovecraft( TGSK
32J1( an the unname protagonist of The Shado& 'ver (nnsmouth is a man-froglike-
fish or fishlike-frog( 'flopping( hopping( croaking( bleating' .Lovecraft( TS( I3I1$
'Propagation by epiemic( by contagion( has nothing to o "ith filiation by hereity$?
These combinations are neither genetic nor structural4 they are interkingoms' .Deleuze
an Guattari( TP 2I/-24 sec$ /01$ )n 'The 8hao" 7ver )nnsmouth' the kingom of
immortal creatures of the sea arises to infect the citizens of )nnsmouth "ith molecular
intensities( merging lan "ith sea an human "ith frog-fish-flesh$ The narrator shares a
family line "ith these hybri "orshippers of Dagon an Cthulhu( but genealogy
prouces a uni6ue specificity of hybriity$ #e tells us that 'them as turn into fish things
an! "ent into the "ater "ouln!t never ie' .I/I1$
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e6uivalences emarcate through political( isomorphic binaries of gener( age or race1
nor structural .base on arboreal hierarchy an genealogy1$ )n aition( their
immortality( like their genealogy( shoul be unerstoo not as a chronology "ithout
en( but rather as time "ithout uration( simultaneity incluing constant ifferentiation$
The contemplation of this concept-state is often the catalyst for the protagonists!
maness( but only "hile they remain in the human "orl( "ith its moes of spatial
isambiguation an unfurling temporality$ ,e hear in TN% the much-cite couplet
ma&im of the Ancient 7nes( also foun in The Necronomicon( that 'That "hich can
eternal lieAn "ith strange aeons even eath may ie' ./I21$
Gate 3. Inhuman BecominsThe ma%oritarian( it coul be argue( belongs to no category other than the particular
species of the 'human$' After becoming-"oman( through "hich "omen must also pass(
Deleuze an Guattari call to the human 'becoming-animal$' The shift from being
"oman to becoming "oman .a eeply problematic( precariously fetishistic concept for
"hich Deleuze an Guattari have been maligne1 is a movement from a category
emergent only through ma%oritarian e&pression( as lacking an oppresse( to "oman as
a singularity or territory "ith no opposite$ The very fact that Deleuze an Guattari posit
"oman as the first( surely horrific step for the ma%oritarian male to take in his
relin6uishing of po"er eno"s this politics of alterity "ith the moo of Lovecraft!s
protagonists "ho( ultimately( fear becoming-nothing( a status to "hich minoritarians
have long been relegate$ The becoming-cosmic( ho"ever( sho"s that nothing is
everything( %ust as many feminists( such as )rigaray in An Ethics of Se)ual *ifference(
have argue that "oman( in 'lacking(' is both less than an more than one$ *rom the
efinite politics of feminists of ifference( "e come to the larger paraigm of the human
itself$ ,hile Lovecraft!s characters o not pass through a becoming-"oman( they o
leap to a becoming-animal that is neither human nor animal( an both$ )nsofar as the
animal is nothing e&cept the not human( becoming animal begins the ablation of the
category of the human$ As Lovecraft!s protagonists e&ten to"ar becomings that offer
no recognisable elements( they can no longer be organise as hybris of relations
bet"een t"o( "hether animalhuman or humanemon$ Through abstract gos( this
stage of becoming is able to eroe entirely all resiue of the human$ eyon the notion
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of the 'post-human(' "hich suggests an 'after(' Lovecraft!s becoming-inhuman is "ithin
so-calle humans( immanently available( an inee inevitable an compulsory$ o
longer hybri "ith e&o-kingoms( the primary term 'human' can no longer be escribe
as becoming$ The ivisibility of becoming entities becomes increasingly ifficult$ This
section e&plores the conception of relations of a-human or inhuman( non-ifferentiate(
nebulous becomings as baro6ue$ Lovecraft!s monsters are unto themselves not scary( the
events not frightening( compare "ith facing the ultimate horror of losing sub%ectivity
to the very molecular level of the human( the mammal( the invertebrate( the plant( the
bacterial$
)n Lovecraft!s tales events are associate "ith phases of relation an prouction( not
presente in increments of narrative evolution$ *or this reason ) "oul e&ten Deleuze!s
"ork on Leibniz an argue that both Deleuze an Guattari!s
"ere"olvesvampiresemons an Lovecraft!s "ork eal "ith the baro6ue$ Like the
baro6ue( Lovecraft!s "ork consists not of collisions bet"een forms but rather of acts of
relations bet"een substances( or( as Leibniz puts it( the po"er to act an be acte upon
.B/1$ The baro6ue is important for the politics of ifference in my argument because
Leibniz argues here that boies epen on their affective relations "ith other boies in
orer to efine themselves$ Techni6ues of subsumption an oppression through the
reification of ominant ientities amount to uneven relations "ithout participation$
)nstea of perpetuating omination or suborination through refusal an e&trication(
attention to the affects an fluiity of boies in pro&imity "ith an inflecte through
one another re6uires that our apprehension of those boies negotiates the possibility of
differing ourselves$ *or Leibniz( all boies are moification or e&tension( e&isting as
flui aggregates( an their reality is not an essence "ithin these boies but rather( as
Leibniz "rites follo"ing Democritus( 'they epen for their e&istence on opinion or custom' .J;1$
Critics have accuse Lovecraft of nihilism( pessimism .L+vy1( paranoia .Carter1 an(
from an esoteric angle( 6ualities of negativity an poverty-stricken intangibility .Pasi(
#anegraaff1( even if the critics have not necessarily presente these 6ualities as ba$
More celebratory e&plorations have suggeste that Lovecraft!s art allo"s encounters
"ith the sublime .=alickas1$ As a phenomenon of encountering an e&cess of
signification that is no less material for being so( the sublime offers a %ubilant reaing of
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the ultimate issipations that Lovecraft!s protagonists unergo$ )n irect reference to a
politics of feminist alterity( risteva!s *esire in Language propose the sublime as an
integral element of the a-signifying systems encountere in becoming-"oman$
Lovecraft also has been utilise in 6ueer theory an as a catalyst for activism
.MacCormack( 'Fnnatural Alliances'1( in illustration of 9oshi!s point that his is a "riting
of function$ Goorich has e&plore Lovecraft as a mannerist( an has pointe to the
plastic-artistry of his literary style$ )t is crucial to fin %oy in Lovecraft( as it is here "e
fin liberation from ominant signifying systems$ The 6uestion then becomes( '"ho
benefits from maintaining these systemsE' =eaing Lovecraft as a baro6ue "riter( "e
can fin voluminous material .inee all too material1 becomings$ The horror perhaps
comes from the fact that these becomings are not metaphors4 they are instea all too real
an in fact invert metaphorisation( "ith no recourse to meaning$ *ar from isappearing
or being consume( Lovecraft!s characters are unable to escape( through eath or
victory( the reality of their metamorphoses$ Leibniz states: ' A cororeal substance can
neither arise nor erish e)cet by creation or annihilation+ %onse,uently things &hich
have souls do not arise or erish- but are only transformed ' .;21$ Carter an Charles
De&ter-,ar( among others( neither live nor ie( an at best theirs is not a fear of
transformation but of an irresistible 'beckoning' .Lovecraft( TGSK 3031$ ,hatever is
annihilate is human$ )nee perhaps these stories are nihilistic for the human( al"ays
an only lacking or against only human life( the human unerstoo as that "hich
Leibniz!s ethics repuiates an entity as a unifie one$ ecoming-inhuman is not eath(
'for no substance perishes( though it can become 6uite ifferent' .Leibniz I@1$
aro6ue transformation is borering( infinitely an infinitesimally fractal( aggregate
plurality( subivision( 'moification as e&tension' .Leibniz JB1$ The specificities of
each of these 6ualities are not antagonistic( an unlike relations offer an ethics of ifference that is crucial to minoritarian stuies an becomings$ The unname entity
.probably Nog-8othoth1 that conclues 'The Dun"ich #orror' . *H 1 speaks half in
5nglish an half in imperceptible an olfactory utterances$ )t 'has been split up into
"hat it "as originally mae of( an can never e&ist again$ )t "as an impossibility in a
normal "orl$ 7nly the least fraction "as really matter in any sense "e kno"'
.Lovecraft( *H /3/-21$ The entity is calle a 'human blasphemy' ./321( not because it
is evil or aberrant( but because it coul not be perceive an thus kno"n as part of the
'normal' "orl occupie by phantasies of human an other emarcate entities$
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Politically( minoritarians "omen( 6ueers( racial others an so forth have been
consiere in this "ay( an in response have emane a philosophy of re-negotiating
signifying systems$ *aith here is not belief in Go but in the human an its associate
6ualities of singularity( reifie sub%ectivity( an unifie( homogenise e&pression of
substance$
Continental philosophy fre6uently emphasises that art first involves letting go of the
category of the human$ *or Lyotar( art makes us become-inhuman .21$ Deleuze states
that esiring machines only occur bet"een the non-human an the human . *esert
(slands 2I@1( an Deleuze an Guattari efine art-affect as man!s <sic> non-human
becoming .$hat is Philosohy. /21$ *or Guattari( the most important of the three
ecologies of environment( social relations( an human sub%ectivity( is the rupture of
human sub%ectivity through an entirely ifferent logic .The Three Ecologies 2B( 3J1$
*rom less than human becomings hybri animal to abstract hybri becomings
emonic relations baro6ue becomings no" reach the inconceivable outsie of all
human thought the unthinkable$ Guattari claims that his thir ecological register of
aesthetic-ethics( the reterritorialization of sub%ectivity( is the most crucial( "hile
*oucault sho"s that thought "hich is itself outsie can( through art( offer access to an
outsie sub%ectivity( but "ithin the "orl an art!s ecstasies$
A thought that stans outsie sub%ectivity( setting its limits as thought from "ithout(
articulating its en( making its ispersion shine forth( taking in only its invincible
absence? regain<s> the space of its unfoling( the voi serving as its site( the istance
in "hich it is constitute an into "hich its immeiate certainties slip the moment they
are glimpse$
.*oucault /3-/J1
)t is imperative to let go of the human in orer to encounter an fol "ith art( "hich
unfols the self to"ar infinity an pure potentiality "ithout genesis or estination$ This
unfoling is an ethical opening that sacrifices ma%oritarian access an e&pression to the
po"ers of the human$ Mrs$ Garner!s maness in Lovecraft!s 'The Colour 7ut of 8pace'
.T%'S 1 presents her as screaming 'about things in the air "hich she coul not escribe$
)n her raving there "as not a single specific noun( but only verbs an pronouns$ Things
move an change an fluttere( an ears tingle to impulses "hich "ere not "holly
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souns' .2301$ The 'monster' of T%'S is a 6uality of luminescence an bubbling of
ooze that is threatening as affect an not as act$ Like an encounter "ith art that appears
to come from outsie( the encounter "ith this entity resists the anne&ation of a%ectives
to nouns( an results in no more than vague fragments of escriptions of events( through
"hat Deleuze an Guattari escribe as a variety of sensation-compouns: vibration( the
embrace or clinch( "ithra"al( ivision( an istension t"o elements ra"n apart but
together by the light( air( or voi4 they emphasise that ' Affects are recisely these
nonhuman becomings' .$hat is Philosohy. /JB1$ *or Lyotar( *oucault( lanchot( an
=anciOre( art manates letting go of the category of the human$ )n contraistinction to
the assessment of Lovecraft as against life( perhaps "e can celebrate him as a
philosopher of alterity( even if he is( ironically( his o"n first victim .consier this
alongsie his ignoring "omen to a large e&tent an his &enophobia( both of "hich have
been "ritten on e&tensively1$ 7f course such a celebration "oul be anchore by 9oshi!s
claim that Lovecraft!s "ork is about "hat "e do "ith it: if Lovecraft!s "ork presents a
political philosophy of alterity beyon authorial intent( it oes so only in the "ay that it
is utilise an not simply in "hat it says$
Through becomings( 'The Call of Cthulhu!s' 9ohansen an others are literally
s"allo"e up( ingeste into the Lovecraftian "orl$ To be s"allo"e is to be ingeste
into the fols of the monster$ The self becomes inherently part of the fols an folings-
in of these "orls( until all perception is envelope "ithin a plane of Lovecraftian
monsters an hybris$ The fole self cannot become e&tricate from this plane( an
instea becomes "illingly infecte by the contagion of the monstrous other planes(
incluing those of other becomings such as "oman or feminism$ Thus "e come to
realise that Cthulhu is not a creature or form but purely a moe of .actually
imperceptible1 perception: 'There "ere certain proportions or imensions "hich ) inot like' .Lovecraft( TN% /@014 '#orrors of a form not to be surmise' .Lovecraft( 'The
Dream-Kuest' @;21$ The baro6ue is infinite an inefinite becomings of form( an thus
emphasizes the impossibility of apprehening anything e&cept through aspect( turn( or
intensity$ Demons re6uire the repuiation of humanity( an Deleuze an Guattari!s
emonic bans first re6uire getting ri of human classifications: 'Lovecraft applies the
term !7utsier! to this thing or entity' .TP 2I34 sec$ /01$
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)n orer to enter into this beyon-humanness "e must act as sorcerers( "hich re6uires
Deleuze an Guattari!s four stages of emonic pact-making$ The first is the alliance "ith
a emon( through "hich the human passes into the pack( "hich is the secon phase$ The
thir sees this pack create a borerlan "ith another pack( "hich then allo"s the
borerline to guie the future.s1 of the human-animal collective pack intensities$ The
fourth stage is presumably the stage of ethics( creativity( an thought( as it involves the
prouction of irections that most benefit each particle of each pack-pact( an al"ays
changes the micro- an macro- 'things' "ithin an bet"een the borerline$ The
"ere"olf( emon( an the vampire( as not kno"able but thinkable fabulations( are
"aves or bans an not figures or concepts or( as in $hat is Philosohy.( they are
pre-philosophical$ ,ere"olves( emons( an vampires inclue elements similar to the
human an to animal elements( but form strange( ne"( mobile( an "hat Deleuze an
Guattari call unnatural participations .TP 2I21 an "hat Lovecraft perhaps "oul call
'isturbing combinations' .TGSK 3@1$ They are not uncanny( as they are not symbolic
forms se"n together into emarcate half-half mythic monsters$ Accoring to a ne"
grammar of becoming( it is not a cobbling together of t"o nouns( but rather the
movement-combination-aspect of the familiar( or the verbing( that creates the hybri:
'ut in the te&t itself it i inee reek "ith "oner4 for here "as no script of any
"holesome age( but the laboure strokes of meiaeval arkness( scarcely legible to the
laymen "ho no" straine over it( yet having combinations of symbols "hich seem
vaguely familiar' .Lovecraft( 'The Case of Charles De&ter ,ar' 2B@1$
)f "e think the borerline as a plane of immanence( then the borerline 'implies a sort
of groping e&perimentation an its layout resorts to measures that are not very
respectable( rational or reasonable$ These measures belong to the orer of reams$? To
think is al"ays to follo" the "itch!s flight' .Deleuze an Guattari( $hat is Philosohy.I/1$ )n 'Dreams in the ,itch-#ouse' ro"n 9enkin( the hybri rat-human .nicely
resonant "ith Deleuze an Guattari!s citation of the film $illard 1 an his "itch-ally
eziah Mason seuce ,alter Gilman to"ar 'lines an curves that coul be mae to
point out irections leaing through the "alls of space to other spaces beyon( an <she>
ha implie that such lines an curves "ere fre6uently use at certain minight
meetings' .@0J1$ The borerline is one imension cut from a plane of consistency$
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Gate !. A"#erce$tion
Lovecraft!s protagonists initially shift their moes of perception to reams an
memories that o not belong to their history or imagination$ This alreay implies the
suspension of any recognisable moes of apprehension( an compels us to rea in a
similar "ay$ Dreams( memories an imagination are not oppose to reality but belong to
ifferent orers of perception that nonetheless effect alterations in sub%ectivity an sho"
reality to be a 6uality$ The 6uestion is not so much "hat "e rea in Lovecraft but ho&
"e rea$ Lovecraft!s is an impossible pro%ect of escribing the inescribable( speaking
about the unsayable an e&plicating events "hich are beyon our capacity to follo"$ #is
"ors are not comple&( so that if both "riter an reaer lack "ors for the unsayable(
an if they are open to art as outsie an to the inhuman becomings that literature
invokes( this lack is precisely the ethical point of creating ne" relations of prouction
bet"een art an reaer that cannot be set o"n( structure( or unerstoo as preceing
the event of reaing$ The ecision to open to"ar a revolution in perception is the point
of becomings$ Deleuze an Guattari escribe a novel as populate by the multiple
perceptions of the characters an the shao"y but ubi6uitous perception of the "riter$
Lovecraft( ho"ever( kno"s neither his o"n perception nor those of his characters(
because in his "ork perception itself is the character( content an narrative$ Perception(
in this "orl an in the palimpsest "orls "ithin an outsie of it( is an incanescent(
fantastical reality$ 5&les of unbearable( "onrous perception of the present as
orinarye&traorinary are foun in Lovecraft!s belove Arthur Machen$ )n 'A *ragment
of Life(' "ithin an beneath Lonon there emerges an arcane( natural "orl( a 'e"
Life' in "hich( along "ith 'unhear-of %oys( there are also ne" an unhear-of angers'
.Machen ;B1( an "hich thus e&emplifies Deleuze an Guattari!s unhear of becomings$
Lovecraft!s task becomes impossible in the final phases of the becomings he catalyses(
"hen perception itself resists becomings$ et"een the a-human an thinking the pure
plane of consistency in Lovecraftian becomings( a-perception navigates this impossible
but nonetheless actual task( %ust as the becoming itself is increasingly ifficult to
negotiate$ =ecalling Deleuze an Guattari!s emphasis on abstraction as no less real( "e
can say that a-perception is the no less material e&perience of becoming beyon
escription or apprehension$ A-perception is crucial for thinking outsie establishe
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thought an ackno"leging the reality an transgressive potential of "hat "e cannot
kno" but must nonetheless e&perience( %ust as the minoritarian is force to e&perience
oppression by virtue of remaining unkno"n an unkno"able in a ma%oritarian economy$
)nee it is precisely because the potentiality of a-perceptive becomings cannot be
eferre to kno"lege or apprehene as concept-ob%ect( but instea is al"ays "ithin
this real( material plane( that it is necessary for mobilizing sub%ectivity through art(
"hich emans perceiving ifferently$ )t is no accient that these shifts of perception in
Lovecraft!s "ork are the most ifficult to rea an the points at "hich the protagonists
lose their mins or( properly speaking( their humanity an sub%ectivity$ They( as "e(
must learn to perceive ifferently( an the '"e' is the first casualty$
Alliance through becomings an packing creates both communal or share fols
bet&een the threshol an ne" fols "ithin the singular self .an alternation of
Deleuze!s habitus( "hich he borro"s from Leibniz1$ This re6uires alteration in
perceptions through alterations in being( the threshol of "hich perhaps "e coul
escribe( as Lovecraft oes in 'The Fnnamable(' as a 'hybri nightmare' .2@21$ '5very
perception is hallucinatory because perception has no ob%ect? but from the haze of ust
"ithout ob%ects the figures themselves raise up from the epths an fall back again'
.Deleuze( The /old ;@-;I1$ Peaslee loses his ability to istinguish bet"een his ream
e&istence an his terrestrial one an thus his ability to istinguish actuality from
hallucination: ')nee it seeme to the octors that ) lost interest in my proper
personality as soon as ) foun the case of amnesia accepte as a natural thing'
.Lovecraft( 'The Fnnamable' IJB1$ #e e&periences perception as fragmentary an
fractal( as a series of perspectival inflections of the fol .an therefore out of time(
because linear time is create through micro an macro shifts rather than through a
serialisation of acting ob%ects1$ 9oe 8later in Beyond the $all of Slee forsakes his becoming-Dagon for a pure imperceptible perception: 'At this point the thought "aves
abruptly cease an the pale eyes of the reamer or shoul ) say ea man
commence to gaze fishily' .Lovecraft( B$S I1$
Along t"o tra%ectories( through their becomings an their entrance into the geoplanes of
the Ancient 7nes( Lovecraft!s protagonists transform graually( not through their being
or location but through their perception$ Their becomings shift from alliances to being-
apprehension-simultaneity "ith all particles( an so are beyon the nee for space an
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time$ 'Memory an imagination shape im half pictures "ith uncertain outlines amist
the seething chaos( but Carter kne" they "ere memory an imagination only'
.Lovecraft( TGSK 3/1$ To propose Lovecraft as a "riter of the baro6ue is also to point
to the chaos that is a key element of his renegotiation of non-5ucliean physics$
Deleuze an Guattari like"ise escribe philosophy( science( an art as "anting to 'tear
open the firmament an plunge into chaos' .$hat is Philosohy. 2021$ Philosophy(
accoring to them( gives us variations( science variables( an art varieties$ As sorcerers
of baro6ue emonology( Lovecraft an his protagonists begin "ith becoming an "ith
seeing various forms of hybri monsters$ They then shift through variants of the
metamorphic mobility of self an monster in action( an reach their pinnacle as
actualise perceptions of virtual potentialities$ #ere( the protagonists shift their thinking
from seeing an from being infecte by the molecules of monster variants( to"ar
infernal( seething forms( to aberrant angles of being an apprehening$ This may also be
the point at "hich Lovecraft himself shrugs off the fetters of gothic "riting an creates
the hybri( folklore-physics systems through "hich becomings occur$ 'on-5ucliean
calculus an 6uantum physics are enough to stretch any brain4 an "hen one mi&es
them "ith folklore? <Gilman> began to connect his mathematics "ith the fantastic
legens of eler magic' .Lovecraft( *$H ( @0J1$
Lovecraft calls his blin( ma go yarlathotep the cra"ling chaos$ Gilman fears
alighting in the 'spiral black vortices of that ultimate voi of Chaos "here reigns the
minless emon sultan Azathoth' . *$H ( @I@1$ yarlathotep an Azathoth( in aition
to many of the other Ancient 7nes .incluing the ea but reaming Cthulhu1( are blin(
minless an ea only "hen evaluate accoring to human moes of signifying
perception an 6ualitative states$ )n Lovecraft!s rarely cite poetic "ork( yarlathotep!s
'iiot chaos blo"s 5arth!s ust a"ay' .'yarlathotep' l$ /I1 even though 'throngs presse aroun( frantic for his commans' .'yarlathotep' 31$ An then(
7ut in the minless voi the emon bore me
Past the bright clusters of imensione space
Til neither time nor matter stretche before me
ut only Chaos( "ithout form or place$
.'Azathoth' /-I1
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The beautiful( brief poem Azathoth invokes reaming( bat-things flopping( an
monstrous chance-combinings$ These ab%ect blasphemers( beyon the cares of ominant
systems an their heas( are sorcerers "ho betray their positions as heas of pack4 '!)
am his messenger!( the emon sai an in contempt he struck his Master!s hea'
.'Azathoth' /@-/I1$ Lovecraft!s moments of horror occur "hen iscursive systems such
as Azathoth!s po"ers ."hich have their o"n emonic( hybri philosophy1 or( .if rea as
esire1( Deleuze an Guattari!s unnatural nuptials .TP 2I01 e&press a possible chance-
combining of the three orers of chaos! emergence that are escribe in $hat is
Philosohy.
Gate %. From the &ns$ea'able to the&nsayable
Lovecraft!s is a task of "riting the un-"ritable$ Like other 'fantasy' "riting( Lovecraft!s
prose is often evaluate as simultaneously lacking in substance an hampere by
meloramatic overuse of a%ectives$ #e epicts the maness of T%'S !s Mrs$ Garner by
groping for affects( a%ectives an pronouns "ithout his language alighting on form(
nouns( or entities apprehensible through human perception$ ,ilson( along "ith many
other critics( claims many of his stories are 'atrociously "ritten' .I1$
Maligning Lovecraft for his flori an enflaming a%ectives an for his non-e&istent
narratives fails to aress the inescribability of "hat he is compelle to escribe
palimpsest "orls beyon apprehension( selves incapable of speech( becoming-
polyvocal but not in any language istinguishable by humans( an e&istence outsie
time$ )n 'The Fnnamable(' in spite of Manton!s vague kno"lege that
the min sometimes hols visions an sensations of far less geometrical( classifiable
an "orkable nature( he believe himself %ustifie in ra"ing an arbitrary line an
ruling out of court all that cannot be e&perience an unerstoo by the average citizen$
esies( he "as almost sure that nothing can be really 'unnamable'$ )t in!t soun
sensible to him$
.221
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)n his attempt to encounter these "orls( Lovecraft is compelle to use language that
Deleuze an Guattari more sympathetically escribe as 'graniose an simplifie' . TP
23/1$ )n pursuit of thinking the unthinkable an perceiving the imperceptible( Lovecraft
offers his literary art as "riting the un-"ritable( "hich is to say as speaking the
unsayable$ 8uch language must be use in becoming-inhuman( because escription or
speech that interiorizes entities "ith genesis an estination( content an limits of
possibility( is the language of kno"lege an the limite synta& of e&perience$ )f "e can
speak "e speak 'as' sub%ects$ *oucault claims that speech coming from the outsie is a
moe of esire because 'one is attracte precisely to the e&tent that one is neglecte'
.@/1$ As long as literature affirms an reifies the kno"n( this moe of art enies us
becomings$ 8peaking( hearing( an reaing( as events of literary-affect( bring together a-
perception( the fol( an becoming-inhuman$ 5ncountering the outsie involves the
ecstasy of being neglecte of being present "ithout being a recognisable presence
an this is precisely "hy Peaslee fins his boy harassing "hen it coalesces his abstract
consciousness "ith recognisable being$
The ethical relation to becomings through literature are measurable to the e&tent that "e
gift ourselves to the outsie$ Perhaps our coming to Lovecraft can reflect our opening to
the outsie$ Nes( Lovecraft!s are 'horror' stories( but the 6uestion is 'horror of "hatE' or
more precisely: ho" oes negotiating inhuman becomings cause horror affects an "hat
%ubilant becomings-states emerge simultaneouslyE ,hile not "ishing to vinicate
Lovecraft!s prose style( ) propose that his act of "riting may inicate that he is a plane
maker$ Deleuze an Guattari efine a plane thus:
The plane can be a hien principle( "hich makes visible "hat is seen an auible "hat
is hear( etc$( "hich at every instant causes the given to be given( in this or that state( at
this or that moment$ ut the plane itself is not given$ )t is by nature hien$ )t can only
be inferre( inuce( conclue from that to "hich it gives rise$? <The plane> al"ays
concerns the evelopment of forms an the formation of sub%ects$
.TP 2J31
The hien principle( "hich for Lovecraft is his 'cosmic' principle( is hien not in the
sense that it can be reveale$ )ts nature is hien( an to speak of it prouces a gate of
the unsayable that is nonetheless "ritten an spoken( an a gate of the incomprehensible
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encountere as a gate of the act of reaing as an act of art$ Lovecraft!s is a language
from the outsie( 'a meticulous narration of e&periences( encounters an improbable
signs( speech about the invisible sie of "ors$? fiction consists not in sho"ing the
invisible( but sho"ing the e&tent to "hich the invisibility of the visible is invisible'
.*oucault 23( 2I1$ *or Lovecraft the cosmos is a principle of organisation through "hich
these intensities( forms( or "hat Deleuze an Guattari call haecceities emerge$ The plane
gives haecceities$ Lovecraft!s stories become most abstract "hen he attempts to
encounter the plane through the e&6uisitely minimal( imperceptible haecceities( but of
course the plane cannot be encountere$ Things emerge through the plane( but the plane
oes not e&ist unto itself$ Deleuze an Guattari say of music that 'there is a transcenent
compositional principle that is not of the nature of soun( that is not !auible! by itself or
for itself$ This opens the "ay for all possible interpretations' .TP 2JJ1$ The horror of
Lovecraft!s cosmos comes because 'it' is not$ Through access to the ifferent
organisational principles of the cosmos( his protagonists are face "ith the truly
voluminous an thus min-shattering infinity of variations an immanent-
interpretations .not reflections1 of states of perception$
The reuction from the perceptible though nonetheless horrific cosmos a cosmos
occupie by monsters reaches its zenith "hen emergences are almost imperceptible
an the self is part of those imperceptibilities$ An e&le is silence as a vertiginous
'soun':
*or the first time Carter realise ho" terrific utter silence( mental an physical( may be$
The earlier moments ha never faile to contain some perceptible rhythm( if only the
faint( cryptic pulse of the earth!s imensional e&tension$ ut no" the hush of the abyss
seeme to fall upon everything$? ut the moment of silence "as broken the surgings
"ere speaking to him in a language that "as not of physical soun or articulate "ors$
.Lovecraft( TGSK 32I1
The cosmos is not the organising principle of soun$ )nstea( soun is one element of
the real organising principle of Lovecraft!s cosmos( namely( a ne" principle of
conitions of perception that constitute states of .if "e can still call it thus1 'e&istence$'
The unsayable is e&presse in the speech of Lovecraft!s monsters as the souns of
viscous bubblings( "hirrings( chirpings( or the musicality of 5ric ann( "hose 'frantic
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playing ha become a mechanical( unrecognisable orgy that no pen coul ever suggest'
.'The Music' @I@1$ The visual( aural( sensorial an affective are non-ifferentiate an
cannot be e&presse$ Lovecraft oes not see this as a problem( ho"ever$ #is
protagonists are horrifie by "hat they cannot escribe( not that they cannot escribe it$
Lovecraft compels an encounter "ith meaning that is not present but al"ays to come( a
"aiting "ithout arriving( so that the time of reaing is one of elay "ithout resolution$
9ust as he cannot speak "hat nonetheless emans to be e&presse( so "e cannot
unerstan "hat is t being e&perience hrough the event of reaing( a voluminous voi(
an abstract materiality$
Cthulhu oes not hunt$ Although she .Cthulhu!s gener is not specifie1 calls to the
Antarctic e&plorers( a key element of the horrors of the 5ler Gos an Ancient 7nes is
not that they pursue mankin but that they are disinterested in them$ lanchot claims
that in pure literature the "riter is haunte by an ineffable image or meaning( that
literature has no relationship "ith anything as a preceing 'before' an is thus incapable
of being a "ork 'about$' )t is( rather( a #are Tenebrarum .sea of arkness1$ The "ork is
al"ays the beyon of itself( labyrinthine( 'this attraction that carries it out to"ar a
point infinitely e&terior <"hich> is the movement that carries it back to"ar the secret of
itself' .lanchot( Boo! ;01$ The secret of literature oes not seek revelation$ The
6uestion it asks cannot be ans"ere: ')t "as from the poets an artists that the pertinent
ans"ers to the 6uestions came( an ) kno" that panic "oul have broken loose'
.Lovecraft( T%% JB1$ )t is a secret that constitutes the "ork$ Along "ith his protagonists(
"e meaner aroun Lovecraft( but his is a labyrinth "ith no centre$ )n his tales(
investigation( corroboration an comparison are al"ays frustrate$ 5ach event of "riting
an speech is incomparable to anything an thus its o"n opening to"ar the beyon of
itself$ The stories are not narratives as they seek no en( the speech silent an unhear because it cannot reveal the solution to the secret of the unsayable$ ',e constantly pass
from orer-"ors to the !silent orer of things!( as *oucault puts it( an vice-versa'
.Deleuze an Guattari( TP B1$ The stories must nonetheless be "ritten an rea$
Deleuze an Guattari point out that content is neither escribe nor limite by
e&pression( but is rather e&pane by e&pression$ Lovecraft!s language encounters the
outsie of material content as e&pression an encounters self as an e&pressive( thus
unspeakable( unspeaking but al"ays e&pressing entity$
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Gate (. Beyond the Gates
*oling of esire for monsters is an invaginating turn of the libiinal ban '"here a
secon glance sho"e concavity after the first sho"e conve&ity' .Lovecraft( T%% ;I1$
Leviathan( the supreme emon of The Necronomicon( literally translates as ragon-
serpent from the #ebre" an probably erives etymologically from 'li"yah(' that
"hich gathers itself into fols( t"ists( an turns( an recombines$ ,hen it is
encountere( the s6ui-ragon Cthulhu is 'a arkness "ith a positive 6uality? )t move
anomalously in a iagonal "ay( so that all the rules of matter an perspective seeme
upset' .Lovecraft( T%% ;31$ Pure colour from out of space or colour as phosphorescent
intensity rather than hue4 buzzing( "hirring an recore souns "hich cannot be hear4
an voluminous arkness are Lovecraft!s e&les of matter that must be perceive
alternately( in ruimentary resonance "ith Deleuze an Guattari!s becoming-colour( -
music( an so forth$ ut "hile these offer lines of flight an alternate tra%ectories( "hat
happens "hen the lines prevent perception through sensorial agitationE ,hat happens
"hen they instea cut along entirely ifferent phyla( "hen physical an perceptive
tra%ectories become gatesE Peaslee!s 'isturbances "ere not visual at all but concerne
more abstract matters' .Lovecraft( TST I1$ Can the protagonists be caught up "ithout
perceptionE
Lovecraft escribes "orls becoming-fol an foling this imension to reassemble all
perception$ 'Lovecraft!s hero encounters strange animals( but he finally reaches the
ultimate regions of a Continuum inhabite by unnameable "aves an unfinable
particles' .Deleuze an Guattari( TP 2IB1$ After loving monsters( Lovecraft!s
protagonists achieve a particle perception( a flattening out of all time an space "here(
instea of the perception of a fol being perspectival for each fol( perception becomes
total an simultaneous$ Cthulhu!s 'nebulously recombining' eventually achieves
'elritch contraictions of all matter( force an cosmic orer' .Lovecraft( T%% ;;( ;1$
'Men think of time only because of "hat they call change( yet that too is an illusion$ All
that "as an is an is to be e&ists simultaneously' .Lovecraft( TGSK 32/1$ The base
istortion of the horizon into no horizon apprehene through any familiar perception
reconfigures all angles of perception$ Those "ho cannot cope become the atrophie
oy "ithout 7rgans( "hile those "ho allo" themselves to issipate into their ream
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"orls scatter into particles a schizo-maness$ oies are more than flui( becomings
more than alliances$ The self goes beyon being a point at its limit( as Leibniz claims( to
becoming proliferate points that are not mingle "ith other po"ers but are
simultaneous$ Consciousness .e&ternal apprehension1 an perception .internal
apprehension1 are( furthermore( not simultaneous but non-ifferentiate( as they are
from the consciousness of other particle-entities or forces$ The 5ler Gos are able to
apprehen the infinite past an future in a vague immanence( but this seems more like
an eternal presence than like contraction 'all that "as an is an is to be e&ists
simultaneously' .Lovecraft( TGSK 3@/1$ At the same time( memories that constitute the
past self are ablate an fears of possible futures isappear$ Peaslee!s reams unfol in
non-se6uential se6uence$ Perception is efine as te&ture( an entities as partly matter(
partly something inescribable as matter$ eing '"holly an horribly oriente' causes
Peaslee great trauma until he fins himself 'in <his> conical non-human boy again'
.Lovecraft( TST 3I21$
As a emonic entity( 'the Devil is a transporter' .Deleuze an Guattari( TP 23@1( an the
gates through "hich The 5ler Gos an Ancient 7nes pass are po"erful threshols
catalysing %ourneys( neither seeking nor sealing off( but present in immanent space an
time$ The po"er to act( to enter into relation( the effectuation of foling through
relations of celerity( force an affectuation( is e&tene to a point of pure immanence( a
trembling but not an atrophy$ Demonic invocation( "hich traverses the fish-frog-
"inge-cephalopo( enters through the necronomic gates( oors "hich Deleuze an
Guattari claim are a %ourney$ 8uch %ourneying etermines measure( like the political
tactics of 8pinozan meiative ethics( "ithout nee for referents but using symbols as
variable signs constitute not by signifies but by infinity$ Like Gilman!s pro%ect of
combining physics an mathematics "ith folklore an magick( these symbols are amathematical language$ Guattari!s languages of asemiosis in Soft Subversions 'like
music( painting( mathematics' ./I;1 are separate from signifying systems born of
capital( family( an church because 'the <asemiotic> signifying scrit has not yet ta!en
ossession of the image' ./3/1$ Guattari poses a challenge here because asemiotic
language is a language of liberation( not of #ouellebec6!s nihilism( an it contraicts
#ouellebec6!s claim that Lovecraft "as obsesse "ith the evils of the "orl "hich
inspire his creation of evil interior "orls$ That certain paraigms of moernity(
especially( as #ouellebec6 points out( se& an capitalism( particularly horrifie
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Lovecraft oes ho"ever create connections an resonances "ith those systems Guattari
maligns$
)n his tales an The Necronomicon Lovecraft!s system is its o"n hybri of art(
philosophy( an science( so that the symbols are varieties "ithout e&les( variables of
a process an variants of chaos$ The symbols of The Necronomicon are steps more than
symbols( variations that range to"ar becoming-imperceptible through losing the need
for symbols to be of anything$ They are not e&emplary4 instea of referring to memories
or to futures they refer to a loosening of form( place( state( an belonging$ These
symbols unlock a gate( 'not inee the Fltimate Gate( but one leaing from 5arth an
time to that e&tension of 5arth "hich is outsie time( an from "hich in turn the
Fltimate Gate leas fearsomely an perilously to the Last Hoi "hich is outsie all
earths an all time' .Lovecraft( TGSK 3/J-/1$ The Necronomic symbols e&ten beyon
an incremental %ourney( creating a palimpsest .or a palimpsest( neither increasing nor
ecreasing but converging1 "hich e&tens out to"ar the fifth( si&th an n imensions$
,e can unerstan these imensions( "ith the ai of a hint of "hich Carter receives( as
a plane of consistency .Deleuze an Guattari( TP 23/1$ )n 'Call of Cthulhu' '9ohansen
s"ears he "as s"allo"e up by an angle? an angle "hich "as acute but behave as if
it "ere obtuse' .Lovecraft ;J1$ #is .amittely non-consensual1 pact "ith the emon
Cthulhu is a pact "ith the fourth orer of sorcery( that of creating ne" formations of
imperceptible plane-packs( but at the limit in Lovecraft( these formations are
simultaneously everything an nothing 'abysses? by no means vacant but cro"e'
.Lovecraft( *$H @//1$
Cthulhu calls( but the Ma Arab gives us The Necronomicon to call to the Ancient 7nes(
evincing an irresistible fol of esire alreay mobilise( but seen through a confusion of
forms an 6ualities variants "hich create a esire 'of the sensory( a being of sensation(
on an anorganic plane of composition that is able to restore the infinite' .Deleuze an
Guattari( $hat is Philosohy. 202-20@1$ Michel 8erres claims sense is the only constant
"hen chaos is reeeme from being repetitive isorer to being a limit ./IJ1$ Carter
passes
amist <both through an aroun> backgrouns of other planets an systems an
gala&ies an cosmic continua4 spores of eternal life rifting from "orl to "orl(
universe to universe( yet all e6ually himself? #is self ha been annihilate an yet he
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if inee there coul( in vie" of that utter nullity of iniviual e&istence( be such a thing
as he "as e6ually a"are of being in some inconceivable "ay a legion of selves$
.Lovecraft( TTGSK ( 32J-321
The localism of the Carter-facet or Carter-fragment is a variety of esire that e&ploits
the inevitable infinity of esire( but most enigmatically in Lovecraft( that e&ploits esire
for the aberrant in the move to"ar becoming-infinite$ This becoming is not
immortality though$ 9ust as Deleuze an Guattari affirm becoming has neither origin nor
estination( nor even 'an absence of an origin' .TP 2;@1( so Carter!s becoming implies
neither immortality nor lack of immortality$ )n this "ay Lovecraft!s protagonists move
from becomings( to molecular perception( to"ar a state of pure e&istence-perceptionoutsie of both linearity .time1 an aspectival apprehension .space1( a multiple an
infinite unification( becoming-gos as the 5ler Gos( the pure 'one$' Lovecraft
esperately attempts to escribe Carter!s infinity as terrestrialnon-terrestrial(
livingea( many heae( many tentacle( but he cannot escribe it because it is neither
perceivable nor conceivable$ The best "e can have is an encounter "ith the perception
of the imperceptible: the non-binary that Deleuze an Guattari call the Dogon( an that
Lovecraft might have calle the post-Dagon egg$
Deleuze an Guattari tell us that 'minor authors are foreigners in their o"n tongue$ )f
they are bastars( if they e&perience themselves as bastars( it is ue not to a mi&ing or
intermingling of languages but rather to a subtraction an variation of their o"n
language achieve by stretching tensors through it' .TP /031$ The ifficulty in placing
Lovecraft "ithin one .or any1 'appropriate' genre reflects his characters! trauma at
fining they are both bastars "ithout human genealogy an progeny of collective(
unseen( an a-genus monster gos$ )t can be argue that Lovecraft!s literary forefathers(
%ust as his protagonists! outer-imensional ones( are at once alien to him an
unconsciously influential .especially in the case of( for e&le( Machen1$ Deleuze an
Guattari point out that minor literature can only be foun in "hat cannot be perceive
but "hich can be accesse an encountere "ithin this language$ =osemary 9ackson
argues that Lovecraft!s pro%ect 'makes e&plicit the problem of naming all that is !other!'
.@;1( citing Lovecraft!s claim that ') am not even certain ho" ) am communicating this
message$ ,hile ) kno" ) am speaking( ) have a vague impression that some strange an
perhaps terrible meiation "ill be neee to bear "hat ) say to the points "here ) "ish
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to be hear' .6t$ in 9ackson @;-I01$ )nterestingly( 9ackson places the literature of
lanchot an Lovecraft "ithin the same argument( suggesting that Lovecraft coul be
consiere a poststructural as "ell as a fantasy author$ )n minor literature the 'problem'
of naming the other catalyzes a isturbance in language "hich stretches( contracts an
turns the tensors to"ar a minor literature( precisely because the other( so ubi6uitous in
continental philosophy( is the minoritarian$ Minor literature can access the variables an
istributions that are an are cause by the minoritarian 'as a potential( creative an
create( becoming' .Deleuze an Guattari( TP /0J1$ Lovecraft pleas for the reception
of his language as a meiation rather than as a escription$ Deleuze emphasises that
meiation is the point "here truth is insignificant in the face of relevance an necessity
. Negotiations /@01$ #e also "rites that minority iscourse is create by meiators
. Negotiations /2J1( among "hich he inclues both the "riter and the reaer( or
precisely( the encounter an the pursuit$
)t may seem ambitious to suggest that Lovecraft coul be useful for negotiating
problems face by feminism( postcolonialism( an minoritarian tra%ectories of esire$
9ust as Pelagia Goulimari attempts to rescue Deleuze an Guattari!s minoritarian politics
from scathing criticism by certain corporealist feminists( so ) suggest that the event of
encounter "ith Lovecraft!s "ork is neither real nor fantastic( but is its o"n concrete(
abstracting territoriality$ Goulimari says that Deleuze an Guattari!s minoritarian
politics might appear to be 'totalising abstractions' that 'ignore the concrete
particularity of very ifferent territorialities' .//31$ #o"ever( Goulimari argues that
'Particularity manifests itself in action( in the various ma%oritarian an minoritarian
processes at "ork "ithin an bet"een territories$ Particularity itself becomes process
an invention: invention of artificial territorialities an minoritarian becomings' .//31$
Lacking genesis an estination( family an familiarity( Lovecraft!s monsters aresingular particularities( an each emans a mobile encounter that is unlike any other$
7ur encounters "ith Lovecraft!s "orks an "orls are frightening not because of their
population but because of the "ays "e are force to populate the vertiginous vectors
upon "hich they launch the creative act of thinking through reaing$ #orror becomes
ambiguous at best an trite at the "orst4 the political 6uestion is 'of "hat are "e
afraiE' ecoming-minoritarian is frightening$ The final element of becoming is the
encounter "ith the imperceptible but nonetheless so terribly present( from "hich point
"e access the beyon-becoming( the absolute potential "ithout any minoritarian
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estination( even though in becoming "e kno" "e "ill never arrive$ 7ur encounter
"ith Lovecraft!s cosmic horror re6uires the ethical turn that becoming re6uires( to be
part of a community that is neither real nor perceptible but that irrefutably an
.irresistibly in reference to the crucial role esire plays in becoming1 becomes our
pack$ Deleuze affirms that '"hether they!re real or imaginary( animate or inanimate( you
have to form your meiators? ) nee my meiators to e&press myself an they! never
e&press "ithout me: you!re al"ays "orking in a group( even "hen you seem to be on
your o"n' . Negotiations /231$ ,hen our pack is efine by movement( 6uality( an the
capacity to perceive their alterity( "e are becoming-minoritarian$ Lovecraft stretches
this limit an fins therein both "oner an horror$ )n our encounter "ith this particular
meiator( "e e&press ourselves as limit-minoritarians4 an through the terrifying
creativity that Lovecraft!s "ork emans of its reaers( "e fin an imminent opening
out$
Patricia MacCormack
Anglia =uskin Fniversity
Patricia$Maccormackanglia$ac$uk
Patricia MacCormack
Patricia MacCormack is =eaer in 5nglish( Communication( *ilm an Meia at Anglia
=uskin Fniversity( Cambrige$ 8he is the author of articles an chapters on Continental
Philosophy( especially Guattari( 8erres( )rigaray( an lanchot( posthuman theory( 6ueer
an perversion theory( animal rights( boy moification an e&treme horror film$ #er
"ork inclues 'Fnnatural Alliances' . *eleu0e and 1ueer Theory1( 'The Great
5phemeral Tattooe 8kin' . Body and Society1( 'ecrose&uality' 21ueering the Non3
Human1( ')nhuman 5cstasy' . Angela!i1( 'ecoming-Hulva' . Ne& /ormations1(
'Cinemasochism' . Afterimage1 an 'Hitalistic *eminethics' . *eleu0e and La&1$ 8he is
the author of %inese)uality .Ashgate 200B1 an co-eitor of The Schi0oanalysis of
%inema .Continuum 200B1$ 8he is currently "riting on posthuman ethics$
)or's *ited
Alhazre( Abul <#$P$ Lovecraft>$ The Necronomicon$ Lonon: Avon( /;;3$ Print$
lanchot( Maurice$ The Boo! to %ome$ Trans$ Charlotte Manell$ 8tanfor: 8tanfor
FP( 200@$ Print$
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QQQ$ The (nfinite %onversation$ Trans$ 8usan #anson$ Minneapolis: F of Minnesota
P( /;;@$ Print$
raiotti( =osi$ Nomadic Sub4ects$ e" Nork: Columbia FP( /;;I$ Print$
urleson( Donal =$ Lovecraft5 *isturbing the 6niverse$ Le&ington: FP of entucky(
/;;0$ Print$
Carter( Angela$ 'Lovecraft an Lanscape$' The Necronomicon5 The Boo! of *ead Names$ 5$ George #ay$ 9ersey: Corgi( /;B0$ //-/B2$ Print$
Deleuze( Gilles$ *esert (slands and 'ther Te)ts$ Trans$ Mike Taormina$ Los Angeles:
8emiote&t.e1( 200I$ Print$
QQQ$ The /old5 Leibni0 and the Baro,ue$ Trans$ Tom Conley$ Lonon: Athlone(
200/$ Print$
QQQ$ Negotiations$ Trans$ Martin 9oughin$ e" Nork: Columbia FP( /;;3$ Print$
QQQ( an *+li& Guattari$ A Thousand Plateaus$ Trans$ rian Massumi$ Lonon:
Athlone( /;B$ Print$
QQQ$ $hat is Philosohy. Trans$ #ugh Tomlinson an Graham urchell$ e" Nork:
Columbia FP( /;;I$ Print$
*oucault( Michel$ 'Maurice lanchot: Thought from the 7utsie$' Trans$ rianMassumi$ /oucault7Blanchot $ e" Nork: one ooks( /;;$ -J0$ Print$
Goorich( Peter$ 'Mannerism an the Macabre in #$P$ Lovecraft!s Dunsanian !Dream-
Kuest!$' 8ournal of the /antastic in the Arts /3$/ .200I1: @-IB$ Print$
Goulimari( Pelagia$ 'A Minoritarian *eminism: Things to o "ith Deleuze an
Guattari$' Hyatia /I$2 ./;;;1: ;-/20$ ,eb$ /I 9an 20//$
Guattari( *+li&$ Soft Subversions$ Trans$ Davi L$ 8"eet an Chet ,einer$ e" Nork:
8emiote&t.e1( /;;J$ Print$
QQQ$ The Three Ecologies$ Trans$ )an Pinar an Paul 8utton$ Lonon: Athlone(
200I$ Print$
#anegraaff( ,outer 9$ '*iction in the Desert of the =eal: Lovecraft!s Cthulhu Mythos$'
Aries $/ .2001: B3-/0;$ Print$
The Holy Bible5 King 8ames 9ersion$ artleby( 2000$ 20 9an$ 20//$ ,eb$
#ouellebec6( Michel$ H:P: Lovecraft5 Against the $orld5 Against Life$ Trans$ Dorna
hazeni$ Lonon: ,eienfel an icholson( 200J$ Print$
)rigaray( Luce$ An Ethics of Se)ual *ifference$ Trans$ Carolyn urke an Gillian C$ Gill$
)thaca: Cornell FP( /;;@$ Print$
9ackson( =osemary$ /antasy5 The Literature of Subversion$ e" Nork: Methuen( /;B/$
Print$
9oshi( 8$T$ ')ntrouction$' An Eicure in the Terrible5 A %entennial Anthology of Essays
in Honor of H:P Lovecraft $ 5s$ Davi 5$ 8chulz an 8$T$ 9oshi$ Cranbury( 9:
Associate F Presses( /;;/$ /3-II$ Print$risteva( 9ulia$ *esire in Language$ Trans$ Thomas Gora( Alice 9arine an Leon 8$
=ouiez$ 7&for: lack"ell( /;B0$ Print$
Leibniz( Gottfrie ,ilhelm$ Philosohical $ritings$ Trans$ Mary Morris an G$#$=$
Parkinson$ Hermont: 5veryman( /;;3$ Print$
L+vy( Maurice$ Lovecraft5 A Study in the /antastic$ Detroit: ,ayne 8tate FP( /;BB$
Print$
Lovecraft( #$P$ 'Azathoth$' The Ancient Trac!5 The %omlete Poetical $or!s of H:P:
Lovecraft $ 8an *rancisco: ightshae ooks( 200/$ @$ Print$
QQQ$ 'eyon the ,all of 8leep$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus ;$ Lonon: Grafton(
/;B;$ @J-IB$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The Call of Cthulhu$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus <$ Lonon: Grafton( /;B;$ J/-;B$ Print$
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QQQ$ 'The Case of Charles De&ter ,ar$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus =$ Lonon:
Hoyager( /;;;$ /I/-@02$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The Colour 7ut of 8pace$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus <$ Lonon4 Grafton( /;B;$
2@J-2/$ Print$
QQQ$ 'Dagon$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus ;$ Lonon: Grafton( /;B3$ //-/$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The Dreams in the ,itch-#ouse$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus =$ Lonon:Hoyager( /;;;$ @0@-@30$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The Dream-Kuest of Fnkno"n aath$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus =$ Lonon:
Hoyager( /;;;$ @J/-IBJ$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The Dun"ich #orror$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus <$ Lonon: Grafton( /;B;$ ;;-
/3@$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The Music of 5ric ann$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus <$ Lonon: Grafton( /;B;$
@@3-@I3$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The ameless City$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus ;$ Lonon: Grafton( /;B3$ /2;-
/I@$ Print$
QQQ$ 'yarlathotep$' The Ancient Trac!5 The %omlete Poetical $or!s of H:P:
Lovecraft $ 8an *rancisco: ightshae ooks( 200/$ 2-@$ Print$ QQQ$ 'The 8hao" out of Time$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus <$ Lonon: Grafton( /;B;$
IJI-3II$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The 8hao" over )nnsmouth$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus <$ Lonon: Grafton(
/;B;$ @B2-IJ@$ Print$
QQQ$ Suernatural Horror in Literature$ e" Nork: Dover( /;@$ Print$
QQQ$ 'Through the Gates of the 8ilver ey$' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus =$ Lonon:
Hoyager( /;;;$ Print$
QQQ$ 'The Fnnamable' H:P: Lovecraft 'mnibus ;$ Lonon: Grafton( /;B3$ 223-2@3$
Print$
Lyotar( 9ean-*ranRois$ The (nhuman$ Trans$ Geoffrey ennington an =achel o"lby$
Cambrige: Polity( /;;/$ Print$
MacCormack( Patricia$ 'aro6ue )ntensity: Lovecraft( Le*anu an The *ol$' (rish
8ournal of Gothic and Horror Studies 2 .March 2001$ ,eb$ /I 9an 20//$
QQQ$ 'Fnnatural Alliances$' *eleu0e and 1ueer Theory$ 5s$ Chrysanthi igiani an
Merl 8torr$ 5inburgh: 5inburgh FP( 200;$ /@I-/I;$ Print$
Machen( Arthur$ 'A *ragment of Life$' The Novel of the $hite Po&der and 'ther
Stories of Horror and the Suernatural $ Lonon: Corgi( /;J3$ 2-/0I$ Print$
Pasi( Marco$ 'Arthur Machen!s Panic *ears: ,estern 5sotericism an the )rruption of
egative 5pistemology$' Aries $/ .2001: J@-B@$ ,eb$ /I 9an 20//$
=alickas( Hivian$ '!Cosmic #orror! an the Kuestion of the 8ublime in Lovecraft$'
8ournal of the /antastic in the Arts /B$@ .2001: @JI-@;B$ Print$=anciOre( 9ac6ues$ The /uture of the (mage$ Trans$ Gregory 5lliot$ Lonon: Herso(
200$ Print$
8erres( Michel$ The Birth of Physics$ Trans$ 9ack #a"kes$ Manchester: Clinamen( 2000$
Print$
8iegel( Carol$ Goth"s *ar! Emire$ )nianapolis: )niana FP( 2003$ Print$
,ilson( Colin$ The Strength to *ream5 Literature and (magination$ Lonon: Abacus(
/;J/$ Print$