Virginia Woolf's, The Waves, desire and ethology

This paper examines the particular concept of ethology developed by Deleuze and Guattari through a reading of Virginia Woolf's The Waves, Spinoza's 'Definitions of the Affects' (in the Ethics) and the work of Jacob von Uexkull. It argues that desire and disposition are essential to an understanding of how individuals seek and create meaning within their environments. It traces the emotions of 'longing' and 'emulation' described by Spinoza and emergent in The Waves, and situates them in relation to von Uexkull's 'Umwel' and Deleuze and Guattari's 'territory'.