I meant to add:
Also, if anyone can direct me towards any secondary literature discussing these lectures (besides Stuart Elden's review in boundary2, which I already have) that would help too.
On 31/03/2009, at 3:29 PM, David McInerney wrote:
Also, if anyone can direct me towards any secondary literature discussing these lectures (besides Stuart Elden's review in boundary2, which I already have) that would help too.
On 31/03/2009, at 3:29 PM, David McInerney wrote:
Dear friends,
I am wondering if one of you can help. I have been trying to obtain
a copy of the French version of the lecture series "Abnormal" here in
Australia through inter-library loan, but it seems that the one
library that has it (UNSW) is undergoing some reconstruction work in
the relevant section of their holdings and cannot provide their copy
to me. I am presenting a paper on the lecture of 29 January 1975 at
a conference here at the University of South Australia (commemorating
25 years since Foucault's death), and I am focusing on Foucault's
discussion of two political monsters in revolutionary France (the
King and the crowd) in that lecture, as well as making some comments
about Althusser's discussion of Oriental despotism in his book
'Montesquieu' (1959). Comparing the French text of 'Montesquieu'
with the translation by Ben Brewster I have already found a crucial
mistranslation (what would have been translated literally as
'scarecrow' is rendered 'bugbear') relating to despotism, and I would
like to check the translation of the relevant lecture in Foucault to
make sure that there is no similar problem there. If someone can
scan or photocopy the relevant lecture from the French version and
send it to me at the University of South Australia (see my home page:
http://people.unisa.edu.au/David.McInerney) I would be very grateful.
My paper is called 'Oriental despotism and the political monsters of
Michel Foucault's Les Anormaux' and will be presented at the
conference 'Foucault: 25 Years On' on the 25th of June 2009. Here's
the abstract:
On 29 January 1975 Foucault spoke of two figures of the Despot in
revolutionary France: one of them incestuous (the king), the other
cannibalistic (the crowd). The figure of the despot constitutes a
norm of political conduct, if we understand the ‘normal’ as
constituted in its relation to its spectral, abnormal ‘Others’. In
1959 Foucault’s tutor Louis Althusser had suggested that the
‘Oriental despot’ was a spectre or 'scarecrow' [épouvantail]
constitutive of Western political thought. Foucault's lecture, on
the other hand, suggests something of a specific mode through which
these figures suddenly assumed a material form. This paper extends
these theses through an analysis of how James Mill articulated his
political theory in The History of British India (1818) around the
thesis that 'the fear of insurrection' constitutes the necessary
impetus for the movement from 'semi-barbarous' to 'civilized' society.
Maybe one or two of you can attend? I hope so.
I need to submit the paper for the conference proceedings though on
28 May. If anyone can get a copy of this to me relatively quickly -
or can direct me to an online version - that would be fantastic.
Best wishes
David
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