Border Crossings: Foucault, Philosophy and Fiction


 

"Border Crossings: Foucault, Philosophy and Fiction": my contribution to

Finding Philosophers in Global Fiction: Redefining the Philosopher in Multi-cultural Contexts (2024)

Eds., Anway Mukhopadhyay, Saptarshi Mallick, Debashree Dattaray.

Bloomsbury Publishing

"What does Foucault’s philosophy tell us about fiction? What does fiction reveal about Foucault’s philosophy? Debates about Foucault’s ideas typically revolve around disputes about their philosophical veracity, legitimacy, or credibility, with widely divergent critical responses ranging from unqualified admiration to outright hostility. Noting how these reactions in critical discourse verge either on the hagiographic or the hostile, the respectful or savagely satirical, it is argued that Foucault’s writings can helpfully illuminate the taxonomic power dynamics in a range of satirical and humorous texts. Two postmodern novels by A.S. Byatt and Patricia Duncker are also discussed, examining wider ideas about the human subject, authorial responsibility and the role of the reader, in order to explore the crossing between fiction, philosophy, and other disciplines. Far from being erased, the biographical-authorial-human-subject has been re-inscribed."


 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poems of Love and Loss: Remembering and Celebrating

Image
During bereavement we often want to express the sense of love and loss but find ourselves lost for words. In this case poetry can have a very powerful emotional and spiritual effect. Poems can also challenge and provoke different ways of thinking about difficult experiences. But it is often quite difficult to find a poem that is suitable for a public service that expresses both celebration and loss. In this blog I have selected several poems that may help you to mark your sense of loss, and aid reflection, commemoration and celebration. I have tried to encompass a variety of moods, tones and approaches to reflect the different phases of grief. Gitanjali -  Rabindranath Tagore I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side. The works that I have in hand I will finish afterwards. Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite, and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil. Today the summer has come at my window with its
Read more

Comedy: famous quotes

Image
“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” --- Charlie Chaplin. "Dramatic comedy, from which fictional comedy is mainly descended, has been remarkably tenacious of its structural principles and character types." (Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism ) "The days of Comedy are gone, alas! When Congreve's fool could vie with Moliere's bete :   Society is smooth'd to that excess,  That manners hardly differ more than dress." --- Byron "Man is the merriest species of the creation, all above and below him are serious." --- Addison “This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.” --- Horace Walpole. “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.” --- Peter Ustinov “The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.” --- Moliere. "In the hands of a comic genius the pretence of stupidity is the triumph of irony." "In my mind, the
Read more

Sound must seem an echo to the Sense!

Image
The poetry of Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is sometimes associated with a cramped 'classical' approach to the imagination. However, rhythmic life and energy are bound up in Pope's rhyming couplets. He has an ear for music and movement. In fact, he often speaks about dance or employs its as a metaphor. Rhythm and dance provide a rich vein of physicality. Like Dryden, Pope perfected his ability to hear the inherent musicality of words and their sinewy rhythmic potential. He is a master of the soft rhapsodic cadences of lyric and elegy as much as the harsh, rough music of snarling satire. Although many of Pope's poems present formidable challenges to modern readers it eill eb apparent that a judicious selection of extracts will repay close reading and recitation. Students should also attempt to write their own couplets as this creative process will enable them to understand the levels of subtlety and complexity that can be achieved. Alexander Pope's Essay on Criti
Read more