talking of the order of things - does anybody know of a good account of f's
analysis of Velázquez's Las Meninas?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Clare O'Farrell" <panoptique@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 10:16 PM
Subject: [Foucault-L] critiques of The Order of Things
> Speaking of extreme critiques of The Order of Things, this is one of
> my favourites!
>
> The critic in question (Gérard Mendel) talks about a desire in
> contemporary society (the late 60s) to return to a time 'before
> History and before the Father' which he describes as 'a myth which is
> impossible to realise, a myth which underlies Mein Kampf as much as
> The Order of Things, the myth of a quasi suicidal return... to a type
> of magical, irrational, 'maternal' relation to the environment. It is
> a question here of a psychotic "solution".' (p. 194)
>
> He goes on
> 'The success of this work is a sign of the great contemporary
> confusion of minds. Its ideology of the irrational is closest to the
> analyses contained in Mein Kampf' [footnote follows] Both [works]
> express a nihilist revolt against aspects of the paternal figure,
> both express the paradestructive and finally suicidal violence of a
> death of man as a specific being...
> In a certain way this book can be compared to the description in a
> manual of infectious pathology of the effect of a bacteria on an
> organism [ ie contemporary society] which has no capacity for
> resistance left' (pp. 334-335).
>
> To be fair Mendel does refer at one point to 'the extreme
> intelligence of the author [Foucault]' and the 'collection of new and
> enlightening perspectives' in the book but quickly goes on to say
> that Foucault continually undermines these himself. (p. 324)
>
> Gérard Mendel (1969). La Révolte contre le père: une introduction à
> la sociopsychanalyse, 2nd ed. Paris: Payot.
> --
> Clare
> ************************************************
> Clare O'Farrell
> email: panoptique@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> website: http://www.foucault.qut.edu.au
> ************************************************
>
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list
analysis of Velázquez's Las Meninas?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Clare O'Farrell" <panoptique@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 10:16 PM
Subject: [Foucault-L] critiques of The Order of Things
> Speaking of extreme critiques of The Order of Things, this is one of
> my favourites!
>
> The critic in question (Gérard Mendel) talks about a desire in
> contemporary society (the late 60s) to return to a time 'before
> History and before the Father' which he describes as 'a myth which is
> impossible to realise, a myth which underlies Mein Kampf as much as
> The Order of Things, the myth of a quasi suicidal return... to a type
> of magical, irrational, 'maternal' relation to the environment. It is
> a question here of a psychotic "solution".' (p. 194)
>
> He goes on
> 'The success of this work is a sign of the great contemporary
> confusion of minds. Its ideology of the irrational is closest to the
> analyses contained in Mein Kampf' [footnote follows] Both [works]
> express a nihilist revolt against aspects of the paternal figure,
> both express the paradestructive and finally suicidal violence of a
> death of man as a specific being...
> In a certain way this book can be compared to the description in a
> manual of infectious pathology of the effect of a bacteria on an
> organism [ ie contemporary society] which has no capacity for
> resistance left' (pp. 334-335).
>
> To be fair Mendel does refer at one point to 'the extreme
> intelligence of the author [Foucault]' and the 'collection of new and
> enlightening perspectives' in the book but quickly goes on to say
> that Foucault continually undermines these himself. (p. 324)
>
> Gérard Mendel (1969). La Révolte contre le père: une introduction à
> la sociopsychanalyse, 2nd ed. Paris: Payot.
> --
> Clare
> ************************************************
> Clare O'Farrell
> email: panoptique@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> website: http://www.foucault.qut.edu.au
> ************************************************
>
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list