According to Dits et Ecrits (vol. IV p. 222) the English text of The Subject and Power was completely translated into French (by F.Durand- Bogaert).
So the French version in Dits et Ecrits is not the original source; this is the English text that appeared as afterword in the Dreyfus-Rabinow book (and in Critical Inquiry 8 (summer 1982)).
So,the EW translation is a translation of a translation.
According to the note at the beginning of that Afterword, the second part of The Subject and Power = "Why Study Power?" was translated by Leslie Sawyer. So there must be some manu- or typoscript of it in French, but manuscripts of Foucault may not be published as such. Perhaps, Leslie Sawyers can explain what Foucault's French text truly said.
It seems also very plausible to me that the French translator made use of the manuscript by translating |guiding the possibility of conduct | into | <<conduire des conduites>>|,since |possibility of | is not translated at all, and the French quotation marks are added. These are clearly a radical change of the original English text.
In my opinion the French translation of |putting in order| as |amenager | is not very lucky; it is too soft and does not express the gouvernmental connotation, to which Foucault refers a few lines later in his text. To me |putting in order| fits very well.
yours
Machiel Karskens
----- "Autrement" <autrement@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: "Autrement" <autrement@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Mailing-list" <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2011 3:53:27 AM
> Subject: Re: [Foucault-L] The Subject and Power
>
> Dear Kevin,
>
> Certainly the EW translation is better than the 'Afterword'.
>
> The words 'aménager' and 'ménager' are actually closely related to the
> idea
> of 'managing' - in the sense of arranging things in a way that is
> sensible,
> best, most economical, etc - as in 'I think she managed that situation
> very
> well'. In both French and English they have a lot of overlap with the
> Greek
> concept of the oikonomia (household management). - think also of a
> 'ménage-a-trois'!
>
> The idea of 'fit out' and 'lay out' refers to the way you might
> manage
> space, for example, in your home or office, so I don't think it really
> works
> here.
>
> It seems that F. is saying that the exercise of power consists,
> partly, in
> making some things less likely and other things more likely - that
> might be
> 'arranging for' certain things to happen, but I would say that
> 'managing
> possibilities' may be the least ambiguous translation.
>
> I hope this helps,
> Timothy
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 11:39 PM, Kevin Turner
> <kevin.turner@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
> > I have a translation question regarding ‘The Subject and Power.’
> >
> > In the original French the specific sentence reads:
> > L'exercice du pouvoir consiste à « conduire des conduites » et à
> aménager
> > la probabilité (Dits et Ecrits II, 2001 : # 306, 1056).
> >
> > In the ‘Afterword’ in Dreyfus and Rabinow’s book this sentence is
> > translated as:
> > ‘The exercise of power consists in guiding the possibility of
> conduct and
> > putting in order the possible outcome’ (221).
> >
> > In Power, the third volume of Essential Works, it is translated
> differently
> > as:
> > ‘The exercise of power is a “conduct of conducts” and a management
> of
> > possibilities’ (341).
> >
> > But I’m wondering about this word « aménager » which seems to be
> variously
> > translated as: “to fit out,” “to lay out,” “to develop,” “to put
> out,” etc.
> >
> > So, could the sentence be translated as:
> > The exercise of power consists in a “conduct of conducts” and (“the
> laying
> > out” or “the development”) of probabilities.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Kevin.
> >
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