Date: Thu, 03 Sep 1998 13:21:08 +1000 From: "Clare O'Farrell" <c.ofarrell-AT-qut.edu.au> Subject: Re: minor question Stuart says > >I know of no plans for English translations, but given the mess they have >made over translating Dits et Ecrits - which is truly appalling - I wouldn't >hold your breath >snip > >The Essential Works is billed as the English translation of these volumes, >but its title betrays from the outset its more limited scope. I also have a problem with the description 'essential works' - according to whom? For me some of my favourite and for me most enlightening texts of Foucault's are ones written in the 1950s and 1960s (much as I enjoy some of his later texts) - but few people read these ones because they are not fashionable and can be very difficult (very rewarding 'tho) I am currently systematically reading his work in chronological order and finding it extremely useful in helping to understand his development and later ideas. Some of the early stuff says things which only emerge in subtext in later works (they are buried in the archaeological structure of his later ideas) >The major problem with this first volume is that the majority of the 27 >texts collected here have already been published in English, 13 in a major >collection such as Foucault Live, Politics, Philosophy, Culture or The >Foucault Reader. Only eight have never before appeared in English. This is part due to the fact that the later Foucault is already well translated, In the French Dits Et Ecrits there are a number of important pieces which have not appeared before in either French or English - surely one would like to see these appear as a priority rather than all the well worn and well known pieces that are already available in English? But I suspect that the pressures of production etc etc are one of the reasons for the form the English version has taken - after all it takes quite a bit of time to do a decent translation. Clare *********************************************************** Clare O'Farrell email:c.ofarrell-AT-qut.edu.au web page: http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucault/ ***********************************************************
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