Robert Stuart wrote : " I of course have Deleuze's long essay, and realize F. was much
less engaged with literature"
Sorry Robert, but I sincerely fail to understand where you got this impression from.
To begin with : as Didier Eribon remarked in his seminal work, you could draw out of Foucault's 1961-1968 works a "litterary" cycle equivalent and somehow symetrical to the "carceral" cylcle of later years (with the Riviere file somehow responding to the Roussel monography). Litterature occupies a strategic position in Histoire de la folie (Madness and civilization) 's scheme - in Les mots et les choses (The order of things) 's as well. L'archéologie du savoir et L'ordre du discours both still hold it as a subjectmatter worthy of a quite deep inquiry. Blanchot, Bataille, Klossowki and Artaud : all quite prominent characters in Foucault's "fictions" (as himself came to call it later) of the time. Roussel being the protagonist of Foucault's boldest fiction (and only monography) to date. Hölderlin, Roussel and, once again, Bataille, Blanchot and Klossowski : each one of them has been the subjectmatter of more than one of Foucault's essays - and quite monumental essays at that (one -
La pensée du dehors - having been republished as a book of its own right). What was then the avant-guarde of litterary criticism - notably in Foucault's review of Jean-Pierre Richard's Mallarmé (where F. first elaborate upon what he calls "archive") - as well as the avant-guarde of litterature (the Nouveau Roman constellation, the Tel Quel group) : neither has escaped his sight. More "classical" bodies of work (the gothic novel, the French XVIII° century libertine novel, Flaubert, Jules Vernes) have also been the subjectmatters of quite substantial papers 'round 1963-1966. Oh, and let's not forget Foucault's early forays into Jean-Pierre Brisset's "works".
So, according to page count (and page count only : it is a well known fact that works such as Sade's or Genet or Burroughs have made a lasting impression on Foucault, though he never wrote that extensively about them), I don't see how Foucault's "engagement with literrature" was any lesser than Deleuze. Now, according to page content ? Well, as I said, litterature did occupy a position of quite strategic importance in Foucault's schemes at the time.
Well, maybe Foucault's breaking of vows after 1970 has been somehow less "stealth", more spectaculer than Deleuze's. But I could quote more than a complete library of public statements from them that clearly show that both sort of rallied Artaud's flag ("toute l'écriture est de la cochonnerie" - literrally : "writing (ie : writing in the sacred acception) is obscenity") after that date (just check Foucault's Order of Speech and Deleuze's logique du sens, for instance). Though never really forgetting their "first love" in the process (both just finally prefered outright sorcery to uptight heresy in these matters as in many others).
Just my two cents.
Regards,
Emmanuel.
---------------------------------
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less engaged with literature"
Sorry Robert, but I sincerely fail to understand where you got this impression from.
To begin with : as Didier Eribon remarked in his seminal work, you could draw out of Foucault's 1961-1968 works a "litterary" cycle equivalent and somehow symetrical to the "carceral" cylcle of later years (with the Riviere file somehow responding to the Roussel monography). Litterature occupies a strategic position in Histoire de la folie (Madness and civilization) 's scheme - in Les mots et les choses (The order of things) 's as well. L'archéologie du savoir et L'ordre du discours both still hold it as a subjectmatter worthy of a quite deep inquiry. Blanchot, Bataille, Klossowki and Artaud : all quite prominent characters in Foucault's "fictions" (as himself came to call it later) of the time. Roussel being the protagonist of Foucault's boldest fiction (and only monography) to date. Hölderlin, Roussel and, once again, Bataille, Blanchot and Klossowski : each one of them has been the subjectmatter of more than one of Foucault's essays - and quite monumental essays at that (one -
La pensée du dehors - having been republished as a book of its own right). What was then the avant-guarde of litterary criticism - notably in Foucault's review of Jean-Pierre Richard's Mallarmé (where F. first elaborate upon what he calls "archive") - as well as the avant-guarde of litterature (the Nouveau Roman constellation, the Tel Quel group) : neither has escaped his sight. More "classical" bodies of work (the gothic novel, the French XVIII° century libertine novel, Flaubert, Jules Vernes) have also been the subjectmatters of quite substantial papers 'round 1963-1966. Oh, and let's not forget Foucault's early forays into Jean-Pierre Brisset's "works".
So, according to page count (and page count only : it is a well known fact that works such as Sade's or Genet or Burroughs have made a lasting impression on Foucault, though he never wrote that extensively about them), I don't see how Foucault's "engagement with literrature" was any lesser than Deleuze. Now, according to page content ? Well, as I said, litterature did occupy a position of quite strategic importance in Foucault's schemes at the time.
Well, maybe Foucault's breaking of vows after 1970 has been somehow less "stealth", more spectaculer than Deleuze's. But I could quote more than a complete library of public statements from them that clearly show that both sort of rallied Artaud's flag ("toute l'écriture est de la cochonnerie" - literrally : "writing (ie : writing in the sacred acception) is obscenity") after that date (just check Foucault's Order of Speech and Deleuze's logique du sens, for instance). Though never really forgetting their "first love" in the process (both just finally prefered outright sorcery to uptight heresy in these matters as in many others).
Just my two cents.
Regards,
Emmanuel.
---------------------------------
Nouveau : téléphonez moins cher avec Yahoo! Messenger ! Découvez les tarifs exceptionnels pour appeler la France et l'international.Téléchargez la version beta.