Introduction to Letters from the 20th Century

The French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, writing in 1968, offers us a seemingly negative judgment on philosophy when he says that it is “untimely, always and only untimely.” In saying this he follows Nietzsche, who, in his Untimely Meditations, written between 1873 and 1876, says that philosophy is untimely because it always acts against its time. Yet, in the same breath, Nietzsche offers us hope, when he goes on to say that philosophy acts against its time “for the benefit of a time to come.”

Letters from the 20th Century wonders if we, in the 21st century, are in the “time to come” prophesied by Nietzsche and Deleuze? My aim is to put this question to the test, by bringing readers into contact with the untimely thinking of certain twentieth century philosophers and artists. This will be done through detailed commentaries on their work

Deleuze says that such commentaries should represent an “immobilisation” of both the work being commented on, and the commentary itself. That is, if we are truly in the “time to come,” we will feel the benefit of thinking from the past in the present.

It is the intention of Letters from the 20th Century, to produce commentaries on key twentieth century thinkers and artists, including Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, Henri Bergson, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Sigmar Polke.