Stuart says
>
>I know of no plans for English translations, but given the mess they have
>made over translating Dits et Ecrits - which is truly appalling - I wouldn't
>hold your breath
>snip
>
>The Essential Works is billed as the English translation of these volumes,
>but its title betrays from the outset its more limited scope.
I also have a problem with the description 'essential works' - according to
whom? For me some of my favourite and for me most enlightening texts of
Foucault's are ones written in the 1950s and 1960s (much as I enjoy some of
his later texts) - but few people read these ones because they are not
fashionable and can be very difficult (very rewarding 'tho) I am currently
systematically reading his work in chronological order and finding it
extremely useful in helping to understand his development and later ideas.
Some of the early stuff says things which only emerge in subtext in later
works (they are buried in the archaeological structure of his later ideas)
>The major problem with this first volume is that the majority of the 27
>texts collected here have already been published in English, 13 in a major
>collection such as Foucault Live, Politics, Philosophy, Culture or The
>Foucault Reader. Only eight have never before appeared in English. This is
part due to the fact that the later Foucault is already well translated,
In the French Dits Et Ecrits there are a number of important pieces which
have not appeared before in either French or English - surely one would
like to see these appear as a priority rather than all the well worn and
well known pieces that are already available in English? But I suspect that
the pressures of production etc etc are one of the reasons for the form the
English version has taken - after all it takes quite a bit of time to do a
decent translation.
Clare
***********************************************************
Clare O'Farrell
email:c.ofarrell@xxxxxxxxxx
web page: http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucault/
***********************************************************
>
>I know of no plans for English translations, but given the mess they have
>made over translating Dits et Ecrits - which is truly appalling - I wouldn't
>hold your breath
>snip
>
>The Essential Works is billed as the English translation of these volumes,
>but its title betrays from the outset its more limited scope.
I also have a problem with the description 'essential works' - according to
whom? For me some of my favourite and for me most enlightening texts of
Foucault's are ones written in the 1950s and 1960s (much as I enjoy some of
his later texts) - but few people read these ones because they are not
fashionable and can be very difficult (very rewarding 'tho) I am currently
systematically reading his work in chronological order and finding it
extremely useful in helping to understand his development and later ideas.
Some of the early stuff says things which only emerge in subtext in later
works (they are buried in the archaeological structure of his later ideas)
>The major problem with this first volume is that the majority of the 27
>texts collected here have already been published in English, 13 in a major
>collection such as Foucault Live, Politics, Philosophy, Culture or The
>Foucault Reader. Only eight have never before appeared in English. This is
part due to the fact that the later Foucault is already well translated,
In the French Dits Et Ecrits there are a number of important pieces which
have not appeared before in either French or English - surely one would
like to see these appear as a priority rather than all the well worn and
well known pieces that are already available in English? But I suspect that
the pressures of production etc etc are one of the reasons for the form the
English version has taken - after all it takes quite a bit of time to do a
decent translation.
Clare
***********************************************************
Clare O'Farrell
email:c.ofarrell@xxxxxxxxxx
web page: http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucault/
***********************************************************