Foucault (Merquior book)
Foucault is a book by José Guilherme Merquior about the French philosopher Michel Foucault, first published in 1985.
 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | José Guilherme Merquior |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Fontana Modern Masters |
| Subject | Michel Foucault |
| Publisher | Fontana Press |
Publication date | 1985 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 188 (1991 edition) |
| ISBN | 978-0006862260 |
Overview
Merquior's assessment of Foucault's work is largely negative; he argues that Foucault's work is marked by factual errors and questionable arguments. Merquior acknowledges that Foucault "forced us to think anew on sundry past forms of knowledge" in relation to themes of madness, punishment and sexuality, but characterises him as a "doctrinaire historian who more often than not strives to compress the historical record in the Procust's [sic] bed of ideological preinterpretations."[1] Concluding, Merquior characterises Foucault as "a neo-anarchist".[2]
Reception
In his foreword to Gilles Deleuze's Foucault, Paul Bové described Merquior's book as "a particularly sad example of uncritical arrogance that embarasses everyone involved".[3] John M. Ellis, however, identified the book as "the best general account of Foucault",[4] while Alan Swingewood, reviewing the book in The British Journal of Sociology, described it as "an elegant and well-informed of Foucault's 'highly original' fusion of history and philosophy".[5] Camille Paglia wrote that Merquior's study "hilariously exposes the elementary errors made by Foucault in every area he wrote about".[6]
Notes
- Merquior 1985, pp. 152–3.
- Merquior 1985, p. 155.
- Bové 1988, p. xxxvi.
- Ellis 1997, p. 246–7.
- Swingewood 1987, p. 294.
- Paglia 1993, p. 224.
References
- Bové, Paul A. (1988). "Foreword: The Foucault Phenomenon: The Problematics of Style". Foucault. By Deleuze, Gilles. University of Minnesota Press. pp. vi–xl.
- Ellis, John M. (1997). Literature Lost: Social Agendas and the Corruption of the Humanities. Yale University Press.
- Merquior, J. G. (1985). Foucault. Fontana.
- Paglia, Camille (1993). Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays. Penguin.
- Swingewood, Alan (1987). "Review of Foucault by J. G. Merquior and Michel Foucault by Barry Smart". The British Journal of Sociology. 38 (2): 294. doi:10.2307/590545. JSTOR 590545.