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/lit/ - Literature

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6786762 No.6786762 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/, where do I start if I want to start reading Michel Foucault's books? His stuff seems pretty dense and not light reading at all, so I want to start at the simplest he gets before moving on to more complicated ideas. I am not interested in reading the History of Sexuality, so don't recommend it. I'd just like a starting point of his besides that book.

>> No.6786768

'discipline and punish' is both an early work of his and also a decent introduction to the general themes he is interested in, so that might work

>> No.6786904

>>6786768
I agree with this. Discipline and Punish will get you used to his difficult prose and general theory on authoritarian relationships common in his writing?

>> No.6786923

What are the best translations for Foucault's writings?

>> No.6788058

>>6786904
Yeah, his stuff seems hard to get used to. I mean, I like the idea about madness he puts forward in Madness and Civilization, and I kind of want that to be my starting point with Foucault.
But since I've only taken English up to high school level, will his stuff be hard to understand? It's not that I can't understand the words he uses, it's just understanding fully the ideas he puts forward.

I'm a Chemistry major who's interested in Philosophy and political literature, so am I fucked when it comes to Foucault's writings?

>> No.6788075

>>6788058
Try it out before giving up, anon.

>> No.6788086

>>6786762
How can you know you're not interested in the history of sexuality if you haven't read it, or know any of Foucault's writing? If you think it's a book about sexual acts, you're wrong. It's all about power structures and categorization, leading to institutionalization of human nature, placed in a societal power shift from aristocracy to bourgeoisie.

>> No.6788095

>>6788058

Nah, Foucault's not a bullshitter. He writes in a straightforward manner.

>> No.6788126

>>6786762
Read the Oxford intro written by Gary Gutting and then just dive into Discipline and Punish along with some interviews and shorter essays if you can find them. There are some wherein he goes into his definition of power in greater depth than in the book itself. It won't be exactly easy, but you should be fine; he's about as straightforward as philosophers/theorists get.

>> No.6788131

>>6786762
Start with Society Must Be Defended then Discipline and Punish then The History of Sexuality Vol. I (I don't care if you are not interested, you need to read it bro)

>> No.6788132

>>6788086
It sounds kind of like Feminist drivel, and even though I know Foucault refused to be influenced by identity politics, it is used sometimes in Feminist theory and literature classes.
So I assumed it was completely unscientific bullshit about gender identity and sexuality.

>> No.6788136

>>6788132
you assumed wrong

>> No.6788137

Don't. Fauxcult is a hack. He appeals to white trust fund university babbys because he lets them rationalize pretending to be oppressed.

His blanket statements and blind assumptions of institutional power structures are a great example of the academic left's notorious anti-intellectualism though.

>> No.6788155

>>6788132
And here we have the posters of /lit/.
>I assumed hurr durr buzzword buzzword wymyn and I dun aggree wiv tumblr!!
>so az didnt red da book
You're a wanker.

>> No.6788184
File: 14 KB, 250x250, 1409278533663.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6788184

>>6788132
>someone I don't like enjoyed it so it must be garbage

>> No.6788185

>>6788132
all of his books are unscientific bullshit

just read this

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1980/oct/09/the-heroic-hermaphrodite/

>> No.6788193

>>6788132
Everything is used by these identity politics people. Everything. They can use The Tempest, they can use Arthurian romances, they can use fucking Harry Potter ffs. That's what they do, they read shit and extrapolate their own agenda from it. That's precisely why you need to read Foucault: so you can get a reading of your own, have a direct conversation with his thought instead of assuming he's bullshit because some high priestess of feminism recognized the word "oppression" in one of his paragraphs and decided it could be useful for her purposes. Foucault talked about power structures, for sure, but he's way, way beyond these "white male=power=bad" idiots.

>> No.6788199

>>6788155
Well, Feminist theory is actually bullshit. How are they buzzwords exactly, retard?

>> No.6788220

>>6788184
Nice straw man, buddy.

>> No.6788230

>>6788058
it will be very hard. don't let that discourage you, though. it's worth it

>> No.6788236

>>6788199
>>6788220
Just seeing these replies, makes me reluctant to attempt to refute you. You've obviously made up your mind, and are unresponsive to anything anyone says.

Hurry and make another ''is it worth to read ****'' thread.