I'm not sure about any of the questions you ask; about ethics, personal
responsibility, Foucault and HIV etc. None of us are in a position know,
let alone wrest a conclusion. For what its worth, the friends I have who
knew the man despair at the suggestion that he either 'committed suicide'
(another rumour), or was deliberately 'unresponsible' in those final years.
What I've been able to pick up indeed points to the reverse of that. On
what has passed into writing; I thought that Miller's treatment was sincere
and held integrity. By far the best book that I have read on this however
- a breathtaking book on all kinds of levels - was written by Foucault's
close friend through those last years, Herve Guibert. _To the friend who
did not save my life_ (NY: Atheneum, 1991) is an invaluable insight, though
it goes under the cloak of a work of fiction. Guibert died of AIDS not
long after it was published.
Miller draws heavily on it, in tone if nothing else. As per usual, you
get so much more if you take the time to go to the source.
best wishes/sincerely,
_______________________________________________________
Ian Robert Douglas,
Visiting Lecturer & Fulbright Fellow,
Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute of International Studies,
Brown University, Box 1831,
130 Hope Street,
Providence, RI 02912
tel: 401 863-2420 (direct line)
fax: 401 863-1270
"Great is Justice;
Justice is not settled by legislation and laws
it is in the soul .. " - Walt Whitman
responsibility, Foucault and HIV etc. None of us are in a position know,
let alone wrest a conclusion. For what its worth, the friends I have who
knew the man despair at the suggestion that he either 'committed suicide'
(another rumour), or was deliberately 'unresponsible' in those final years.
What I've been able to pick up indeed points to the reverse of that. On
what has passed into writing; I thought that Miller's treatment was sincere
and held integrity. By far the best book that I have read on this however
- a breathtaking book on all kinds of levels - was written by Foucault's
close friend through those last years, Herve Guibert. _To the friend who
did not save my life_ (NY: Atheneum, 1991) is an invaluable insight, though
it goes under the cloak of a work of fiction. Guibert died of AIDS not
long after it was published.
Miller draws heavily on it, in tone if nothing else. As per usual, you
get so much more if you take the time to go to the source.
best wishes/sincerely,
_______________________________________________________
Ian Robert Douglas,
Visiting Lecturer & Fulbright Fellow,
Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute of International Studies,
Brown University, Box 1831,
130 Hope Street,
Providence, RI 02912
tel: 401 863-2420 (direct line)
fax: 401 863-1270
"Great is Justice;
Justice is not settled by legislation and laws
it is in the soul .. " - Walt Whitman