Since its publication in 1968 Difference & Repetition an exposition of the critique of identity has come to be considered a contemporary classic in philosophy & one of Gilles Deleuze's most important works The text follows the development of two central concepts those of pure difference & complex repetition It shows how the two concepts are related difference implying divergence & decentring repetition being associated with displacement & disguising The work moves deftly between Hegel Kierkegaard Freud Althusser & Nietzsche to establish a fundamental critique of Western metaphysics & has been a central text in initiating the shift in French thought
- away from Hegel & Marx towards Nietzsche & Freud