Spinoza (like Leibniz and Nietzsche) was the most important and favorite author for Deleuze. Along with the two books, Deleuze dedicated a course of lectures to Spinoza, given in 1978–1981 (the first lecture was given on January 24, 1978, and the rest from November 1980 to March 1981). In this course, Deleuze modernizes Spinoza to the extreme, highlighting the places he needs and omitting others. Throughout the lectures, Deleuze analyzes, in his opinion, the main concepts of Spinoza - affect and affect; the theme of freedom, and, contrary to popular belief that Deleuze does not have this theme, the theme of death.