EP-
Guibert was a very close friend of Foucault's (though the most obvious
reading of the text doesn't imply him as the "friend" referred to in the
title). The novel (autobiography) incorporates the story of Foucault's
illness and death with the author's own relationship with with AIDS (of
which Guibert died a year after the book's publication). I certainly think
it's interesting to consider Foucault's attempts to keep silent his own
marginality, and the way that Guibert then forces it into a confessional
discourse (I'm thinking here of "History of Sexuality, vol. I). My own
reading of the novel is that Guibert suggests that all production of
discourse, especially the confession, puts its author into a state of total
submission, abjection. I think he is heavily influenced by Foucaultian
ideas of power and authorship (esp. those presented in "What is an author").
What's more intriguing -- if not enlightening, per se -- than a novelistic
treatment of Foucault by someone under his influence -- though I would not
say a "disciple." If "To the friend who didn't save my life" does implicate
Foucault, it is in regards to his silence -- Guibert suffers because
Foucault would not say that he was gay, would not admit to his own pleasure
in sado-masochistic power play, and did not want to admit even to himself
that he had AIDS.
Interestingly, the name Guibert gives to the Foucault character in the book
is "Muzil" -- perhaps suggesting a similarity to the German novelist Musil,
and referring to the large unfinished work of Foucault's that he had
destroyed. Maybe Guibert implies that this work went unfinished/had to be
destroyed b/c of Foucault's discursive reluctance on a personal level?
Yes, EP, it is definitely worth reading.
-Katie
_________________________________________________________________
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Guibert was a very close friend of Foucault's (though the most obvious
reading of the text doesn't imply him as the "friend" referred to in the
title). The novel (autobiography) incorporates the story of Foucault's
illness and death with the author's own relationship with with AIDS (of
which Guibert died a year after the book's publication). I certainly think
it's interesting to consider Foucault's attempts to keep silent his own
marginality, and the way that Guibert then forces it into a confessional
discourse (I'm thinking here of "History of Sexuality, vol. I). My own
reading of the novel is that Guibert suggests that all production of
discourse, especially the confession, puts its author into a state of total
submission, abjection. I think he is heavily influenced by Foucaultian
ideas of power and authorship (esp. those presented in "What is an author").
What's more intriguing -- if not enlightening, per se -- than a novelistic
treatment of Foucault by someone under his influence -- though I would not
say a "disciple." If "To the friend who didn't save my life" does implicate
Foucault, it is in regards to his silence -- Guibert suffers because
Foucault would not say that he was gay, would not admit to his own pleasure
in sado-masochistic power play, and did not want to admit even to himself
that he had AIDS.
Interestingly, the name Guibert gives to the Foucault character in the book
is "Muzil" -- perhaps suggesting a similarity to the German novelist Musil,
and referring to the large unfinished work of Foucault's that he had
destroyed. Maybe Guibert implies that this work went unfinished/had to be
destroyed b/c of Foucault's discursive reluctance on a personal level?
Yes, EP, it is definitely worth reading.
-Katie
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com