Deleuze and Repetition

Mimesis has a wide range of instances. For example, an 'imitation of Nietzsche' could describe a parroting of his views, an aphoristic style of writing, or an application of his critique of Schopenhauer to Heidegger. Likewise, 'Repetition' can denote a slavish reproduction, an oblique reference, or a re-creation of a distinction. According to Deleuze, the former is typical of the traditional concept of Repetition, i. e. it is a Repetition of the Same, in contrast with which, he proposes that it be defined as the structure of the latter, i. e. a Repetition of Difference. However, the range of the concept demonstrates that he would be mistaken to insist that his is the exclusively correct version. For, Repetition, in general, is a combination of Identity and Difference, to varying degrees of proportion. Thus, in the traditional concept, Identity predominates, while in Deleuze's, Difference does, but with neither escaping entailing a vestige of the subordinate concept, i. e. in the former, there is a difference between original and copy, while in the latter, the difference that is recreated is the same as that which obtains in the antecedent case. So, as innovative as Deleuze's concept of Repetition is, it is as one-sided as the one it challenges.