Stuart
Of course I agree with what you say. The 76 lectures indeed turn out to say
something seriously different from what the first two lectures led many people
to expect.
I was struck though when you wrote about the 78 course that 'The publication
of the lecture course from this year will undoubtedly disrupt many of the
appropriations of Foucaultâ??s work in this area' and: 'the â??Birth of Bio-Politicsâ??
and â??Security, Territory, Populationâ?? courses, from which the â??
Governmentalityâ?? lecture is torn, will doubtless problematise almost all of the
appropriations of Foucaultâ??s work in this area.' And looking at that piece I think you
single out some themes in the lectures you think, probably rightly, merit more
attention.
http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/articles1(3)/ppp.pdf
Yes I did have the good fortune to hear most of that year's lectures, and
then got hold of some friends' tapes and transcripts of 78 and 79, and later on
listened to more tapes at the Paris archives - I enjoyed your descriptions of
that experience - struggling to understand some of those tapes was a peculiar
mix of excitement and aural torture. I have had a chance to see some draft
proofs of the forthcoming editions. Some years ago I published a summary of both
courses in a volume called The Foucault Effect which people have used and
cited in their own analyses, development, commentaries etc. After 25 years it
would have been interesting to have had one's perspectives on the courses
disrupted a bit by the complete accurate transcripts. I have to make the boring
confession that they seem to say pretty might what one remembers thinking they said.
(But they are still just as good!) I was rather hoping from your email that I
might be about to be shaken out of my complacency.
regards
Colin
In a message dated 12/03/04 19:00:20 GMT Standard Time,
stuartelden@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> Subj: RE: l'hermeneutique du sujet
> Date: 12/03/04 19:00:20 GMT Standard Time
> From: stuartelden@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Reply-to: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent from the Internet
>
>
>
> Dear Colin
>
> I'm not claiming any gift of foresight. All I really mean is that the
> lectures up to now have been interesting and revealing in ways I didn't
> expect. They often don't reflect the course summaries, for instance. Nor is
> it, to my mind, obvious how Foucault got from book to book that were
> published in his lifetime.
>
> In the case of courses where lecture were already published - the 'Two
> Lectures' from Society Must Be Defended, for instance, or the final lecture
> of that course - it seems to me that the whole lecture course has
> contextualised and deepened the overall picture considerably. In the case of
> the 'Governmentality' lecture, it is quite amazing how productive that has
> been in terms of the literature that has emerged from it. Some people who
> have written on it clearly know the wider context - people who attended the
> whole course, for instance. Would I be right in thinking that you were there
> for this course? But it seems to me that a lot of the literature that
> expands on Foucault's lecture, in often very interesting and productive
> ways, is unaware of how the concern with rationalities of government emerged
> in Foucault's work.
>
> I sense that it is the issue of confession that led Foucualt to look at
> questions around political control and the emergence of modes of conduct.
> But it seems clear that his early thoughts on confession (i.e. in Les
> Anormaux) needed to be reworked as he delved deeper into the literature. The
> hints in the later work, and particularly in L'hermeutique show how much
> this issue held a concern for him. For me at least, seeing the lecture back
> in context (and indeed the courses as a whole) is going to show in much more
> detail the answer to this and other questions. I expect it will raise some
> more too. What this means, of course, is that I can't really predict. What
> I've liked about the 1970s courses has been their capacity to surprise me.
>
> Hope that clarifies a bit
>
> best wishes
>
> Stuart
>
>
Colin Gordon
Director, NHSIA Disease Management Systems Programme
Health Informatics Manager, Royal Brompton Hospital
Chair, British Medical informatics Society
http://www.bmis.org
07881 625146
colinngordon@xxxxxxx
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