Deleuze's Dickens: Life and Community

Abstract: At the end of his life, the great French philosopher of the twentieth century, Gilles Deleuze (1925–95), turned to Dickens. In his final published work, "Immanence: A Life …," Deleuze offers a brief reading of the passage of Our Mutual Friend where Rogue Riderhood is pulled drowned from the Thames and is revived by a small crowd. Deleuze uses this episode to develop a philosophical concept of "a life," which he sees as a shared plenitude preceding the individual identities of people or objects. This article offers a critical summary of Deleuze's essay and argues for its generative potential for further readings of Dickens by suggesting, as an example, that Deleuze's conceptual framework allows a reconsideration of community in Our Mutual Friend .