Edward Thornton wrote:Spurred on by the events of May 1968, Guattari wrote ‘Machine and Structure’ (1971), an essay on Deleuze’s books. Here, he turned Deleuze’s arguments against Lacan, in an attempt to describe what was really happening in the streets. While Lacan had defined a set of structural rules, apparently determining the relationship between any individual and her object of desire, Guattari wanted to show that desire is a collective and productive force. Instead of Lacan’s commitment to the unconscious as a kind of theatre, where individual desires are staged, Guattari took up the idea that it was more like a machine or factory, constantly producing desire. Lacan recognised Guattari’s article as a threat to his authority, and tried to prevent its publication. Unperturbed by his master’s snub, Guattari sent the article directly to Deleuze – the catalyst for the fateful meeting.
The initial months of their friendship produced a wild array of original ideas. Deleuze suggested a strict routine for Guattari: he was to wake up and write first thing in the morning, mailing the drafts directly to Deleuze without any revisions or reconsiderations. ‘Deleuze said that Félix was the diamond miner and he was the polisher,’ said Arlette Donati, one of La Borde’s nurses. The collaboration mostly took place via correspondence, although the pair met every Tuesday afternoon at Deleuze’s house, to discuss and dissect the work.
The notes from these fevered first conversations formed the basis of their first book, Anti-Oedipus (1972). Here, Deleuze and Guattari set out to explain the relationship between desire and reality, connecting the pitfalls of psychoanalysis and philosophy with the current state of political affairs. They wanted to show how desire interacts with the material world, and to examine how it was entwined with politics.
SAUCE
Pic not unrelated:
