Mario:
It is difficult to pinpoint precisely Foucault's interest in de Sade. My
own _opinion_ is that de Sade represented an intriguing voice of
liberation for Foucault. De Sade is a voice that articulates the
reason in a discursive play of madness and obscenity that appears to be
wholly constituted on the periphery of normal social and cultural acceptance
of what reason means in such situations. In fact, de Sade appears in all
of Foucault's early works, and always near the end. De Sade is present
in _Madness and Civilization_, _The Birth Of The Clinic_ and _The Order
Of Things_. I can't recall for sure, but I also think de Sade appears in
_This Is Not A Pipe_. As I stated above, de Sade always seems to appear
near the end, at the climax of a thought that is seeking some means of
saving grace. This grace is of course entirely discursive.
I'm not sure exactly what to say. Good question.
Yours in discourse,
Steven Meinking
The University Of Utah
steven.meinking@xxxxxxxxxxxxx