On Wed, 21 May 1997, Mark Holloway wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I'm a newcomer to this list, and something of a stranger to Foucault, so
> the mails I've read so far have been simultaneously fascinating,
> intriguing, and bewildering.
>
> I'm doing some thinking about silence for a dissertation on Harold Pinter
> (I'm a lit. student) and would appreciate some input/advice/feeback.
> Remembering the passage in The Dangerous Individual about the defendant
> who refuses to speak (promting a call to defend himself from the judge)
> has lead me to think about the relationship between silence and power -
> especially in terms of silence being both a sign of defiance and of
> complicity. I would really appreciate any suggestions/arguments/guidance
> from anyone on the list. If you can point me in the direction of any
> texts (by Foucault or otherwise) that you feel I ought to look at then
> that would be a great help.
>
> I look forward to hearing from you all,
>
> Mark
>
>
For an example of someone who *does* talk a lot, and so perhaps
illuminates the issue from the other side, see the text and Foucault's
introduction to "I, Pierre Reviere, Having Murdered my Mother, My Sister,"
etc.
You are certainly right to point to the ambiguous nature of silence and,
by extension, of resignation. Remember in "Princess de Cleves" where the
heroine resolves her dilemma by retreating to a nunnery. In the context of
her dilemma, however, this "retreat" was a kind of victory, as she managed
by doing so to get the world's grubby hands off her.
--John
> Hello all,
>
> I'm a newcomer to this list, and something of a stranger to Foucault, so
> the mails I've read so far have been simultaneously fascinating,
> intriguing, and bewildering.
>
> I'm doing some thinking about silence for a dissertation on Harold Pinter
> (I'm a lit. student) and would appreciate some input/advice/feeback.
> Remembering the passage in The Dangerous Individual about the defendant
> who refuses to speak (promting a call to defend himself from the judge)
> has lead me to think about the relationship between silence and power -
> especially in terms of silence being both a sign of defiance and of
> complicity. I would really appreciate any suggestions/arguments/guidance
> from anyone on the list. If you can point me in the direction of any
> texts (by Foucault or otherwise) that you feel I ought to look at then
> that would be a great help.
>
> I look forward to hearing from you all,
>
> Mark
>
>
For an example of someone who *does* talk a lot, and so perhaps
illuminates the issue from the other side, see the text and Foucault's
introduction to "I, Pierre Reviere, Having Murdered my Mother, My Sister,"
etc.
You are certainly right to point to the ambiguous nature of silence and,
by extension, of resignation. Remember in "Princess de Cleves" where the
heroine resolves her dilemma by retreating to a nunnery. In the context of
her dilemma, however, this "retreat" was a kind of victory, as she managed
by doing so to get the world's grubby hands off her.
--John