Re: Secondary Sources

At 13:32 22/09/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I have been a lurker on this list for about a month. I would like to ask
>for some information from the list members.
>
>I have the opportunity to take a class this semester on a single
>theorist (sociology). I would like to spend the semester reading
>Foucault.
>
>What secondary sources would you read if you were starting out? I'm
>looking for something that "frames" Foucault's work. I have a copy of
>Cultural Analysis by Wuthnow. Any suggestions would be greatly
>apreciated.
>
>Phyllis Flott
>University of North Texas
>


Phyllis,

You might want to start with the 'classic Foucault commentaries'. IN
particular, see:

** Smart, Barry (1985) Michel Foucault. London: Routledge.

** Dreyfus, Hubert and Rabinow (1983) Michel Foucault: Beyond
Structuralism and Hermeneutics. (second edition) Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.

** Cousins, Mark and Athar Hussain (1984) Michel Foucault. London:
Macmillan.


See also the readers by
* (ed. David Couzens Hoy) Foucault: A Critical Reader. Cambridge:
Blackwell.

and

* Gutting, Gary (1994, ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Foucault. (ed.
Gary Gutting) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Another really useful collection of commentary is the seven volume set that
has just been put together by Barry Smart:

** Smart, Barry (1994-1995, ed.) Michel Foucault: Critical Assessments.
(seven volumes) London: Routledge.


Enjoy.


PS. Be careful when relying on commentaries. Some, such as the one by J.
G. Merquior, are of a particularly poor standard. You need to read
critically, i suppose.






-------------------
Campbell Jones
University of Otago
New Zealand
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