Born in 1926 in France, Foucault is one of those rare philosophers who has become a cult figure. Over the course of his life he dabbled in drugs, politics, and the Paris SM scene, all whilst striving to understand the deep concepts of identity, knowledge, and power. From aesthetics to the penal system; from madness and civilisation to avant-garde literature, Foucault was happy to reject old models of thinking and replace them with versions that are...
I wish I'd found this little volume before embarking on an attempt to digest Foucault's major works whole - it might have saved considerable frustration. Don't expect a categorical analysis of any of them from Gutting's survey, that's not what this is for. Do expect a more distant perspective from which the forest is no longer obscured by the trees. Neither is this a Cliff Notes version of Foucault's work - if you haven't...
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Gary Gutting's brief survey of the thought of Michel Foucault is not merely one of the best books in Oxford UP's Very Short Introductions series, but one of the clearest, most insightful pieces on Foucault that I've read. I haven't read much Foucault since working my way through most of his books in the late eighties. To prepare for a re-reading of those books I decided to read this book as a refresher/quick overview. Most...
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Written in an easy-read, yet perfectly scholarly manner, Foucault: A Very Short Introduction is a great jumping-off point for the student or interested scholar of literary, cultural, and/or political theory. While brief (as promised) and cursory, it nevertheless goes to the heart of much of Foucault's work as it has influenced that of other modern thinkers. An enjoyable read that will no doubt point in many directions for...
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