I've been reading Eribon's new book, _Michel Foucault et ses
contemporains_ recently. It's not a great book, but it does have
interesting things to say about Foucault's transformation. Eribon
emphasises what we already knew, that prior to May '68 (and actually
a little after) Foucault was interested in politics, but not engaged
in it. When he plunged into leftist politics around 1970, in fact,
many of his friends were shocked by his transformation. Eribon quotes
Dumezil as saying he could never quite bring himself to believe in
the change, and a colleague of Foucault's at Clemont-Ferrand as also
expressing disbelief (both about p. 183 - sorry, I don't have the
book with me). Eribon comments: at this point in his life, Foucault
became another person (tout autre).
So it seems that a thirst for self-transformation was neither
(initially) a condition of Foucault's life, nor was it (initially) a
condition of his politics. But that it became both simultaneously.
With politics, however, in the form of the events of May, in the
position of the determining base...
Neil=========================================================
NLLEV1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------
contemporains_ recently. It's not a great book, but it does have
interesting things to say about Foucault's transformation. Eribon
emphasises what we already knew, that prior to May '68 (and actually
a little after) Foucault was interested in politics, but not engaged
in it. When he plunged into leftist politics around 1970, in fact,
many of his friends were shocked by his transformation. Eribon quotes
Dumezil as saying he could never quite bring himself to believe in
the change, and a colleague of Foucault's at Clemont-Ferrand as also
expressing disbelief (both about p. 183 - sorry, I don't have the
book with me). Eribon comments: at this point in his life, Foucault
became another person (tout autre).
So it seems that a thirst for self-transformation was neither
(initially) a condition of Foucault's life, nor was it (initially) a
condition of his politics. But that it became both simultaneously.
With politics, however, in the form of the events of May, in the
position of the determining base...
Neil=========================================================
NLLEV1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------