Deleuzian Fabulation and the Scars of History

Ronald Bogue develops a theory of fabulation, which he proposes as the guiding principle of a Deleuzian approach to literary narrative

• Develops a specifically Deleuzian approach to narrative, centred on the concept of fabulation
• Demonstrates its viability and originality in close readings of five contemporary novels
• Shows the immense potential in fabulation as a literary critical tool

The concept of fabulation makes a late appearance in Deleuze's career and in only limited detail, but by tracing its connections to other concepts and situating them within Deleuze's general aesthetics, Ronald Bogue develops a theory of fabulation which he proposes as the guiding principle of a Deleuzian approach to literary narrative.

Fabulation, he argues, entails becoming-other, experimenting on the real, legending, and inventing a people to come, as well as an understanding of time informed by Deleuze's Chronos/Aion distinction and his theory of the three passive syntheses of time. In close readings of contemporary novels by Zakes Mda, Arundhati Roy, Roberto Bolaño, Assia Djebar and Richard Flanagan, he demonstrates the usefulness of fabulation as a critical tool, while exploring the problematic relationship between history and story-telling which all five novelists adopt as a central thematic concern.