In your message of 1:35 Mar 21 1996, you write:
>
> OK, here's a question: why has Foucault's first major work never been
> translated into English in its entirety? All we have is Richard Howard's
> abridged version, which omits about 2/3 of the original (including the
> pages which are the subject of Derrida's "Cogito and the History of
> Madness"). What's the story and is there a neww translation in the works?
>
> David Pekerow
> DePaul University
>
David, here's the explanation as I understand it. As you know, Histoire
de la folie was MF's major thesis for his doctoral degree. It was far
too long, according to the english language publishers (like 600pp+) and
so MF cut it back and it was published as the M & C version we are
familiar with.
That seemed to be okay, though there have been a number of critiques of
M & C that could be answered if the critic had been able to read the
original, more in depth version.
Unfortunately, at the time of his death in 1984, MF left a small will in
which he stated something like "No posthumus publications." So, that
means that no full english translation of Histoire can be made. (It
also suggests why the fourth book of History of Sexuality that MF was
working on at the time of his death - and perhaps even completed - has
not been published. Presumably a copy is being passed about
informally.)
So, while a complete translation of Histoire would be nice, MF's final
directive seems to have ruled that out. I wouldn't doubt if there is
some legal wrangling going on about all this though.
Hope this helps - and if it's not entirely accurate, perhaps someone
could set it straight.
Blaine Rehkopf
York University
CANADA
--
------------------
>
> OK, here's a question: why has Foucault's first major work never been
> translated into English in its entirety? All we have is Richard Howard's
> abridged version, which omits about 2/3 of the original (including the
> pages which are the subject of Derrida's "Cogito and the History of
> Madness"). What's the story and is there a neww translation in the works?
>
> David Pekerow
> DePaul University
>
David, here's the explanation as I understand it. As you know, Histoire
de la folie was MF's major thesis for his doctoral degree. It was far
too long, according to the english language publishers (like 600pp+) and
so MF cut it back and it was published as the M & C version we are
familiar with.
That seemed to be okay, though there have been a number of critiques of
M & C that could be answered if the critic had been able to read the
original, more in depth version.
Unfortunately, at the time of his death in 1984, MF left a small will in
which he stated something like "No posthumus publications." So, that
means that no full english translation of Histoire can be made. (It
also suggests why the fourth book of History of Sexuality that MF was
working on at the time of his death - and perhaps even completed - has
not been published. Presumably a copy is being passed about
informally.)
So, while a complete translation of Histoire would be nice, MF's final
directive seems to have ruled that out. I wouldn't doubt if there is
some legal wrangling going on about all this though.
Hope this helps - and if it's not entirely accurate, perhaps someone
could set it straight.
Blaine Rehkopf
York University
CANADA
--
------------------