Abstract

The text traces the development of the notion of catatonia in the work of Gilles Deleuze across three spheres – the individual, social and literary. The need for an analysis is based on the author’s perception that Deleuze thought on catatonia and slowness has been undervalued in many interpretations ; the recognition, in works of sociologists such as Hartmut Rosa, of the adverse effects of social acceleration. In the individual sphere, catatonia is the effect of a radical withdrawal into anti-production or the body without organs. In the social sphere, catatonia is also linked to anti-production, but since in capitalism most anti-production is included in the sphere of production, catatonia represents a special case of resistance to this tendency. Deleuze shows how these two spheres intertwine in his analyses of Herman Melville’s works, especially Billy Budd and Bartleby; the title characters of these two texts are interpreted as embodiments of the catatonic as a political-revolutionary figure.