From: "MRFanning" <MRFanning-AT-email.msn.com>
Subject: RE: hello scholars!
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 18:20:35 -0400




-----Original Message-----
From: owner-foucault-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
[mailto:owner-foucault-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu]On Behalf Of Jonathan
Keesecker
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2000 2:07 AM
To: foucault-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Subject: hello scholars!


hello,

i'm sorry to burst into your listserve uninvited, but i was hoping to find
some help.  when i stumbled across it some time ago i was impressed with
everyone's knowledge of foucault and kept it as a bookmark for future
reference.  basically, i've read very little of foucault's writing, although
i've read some secondary stuff as well as others' which has benifited from
foucault. i'd like to break into reading foucault himself, but i'm not sure
what i should begin with. i considered madness, but decided against it
because it was early (i thought his writing might be more clear in later
works).  so i considered discipline, but was uncertain about that because it
was so much later and might take for granted the reader's knowledge of his
work. i began archaeology because i understood it to be the closest thing to
an explanation of a methodology,

A couple of good secondary sources:
_Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics_ by H.L.Dreyfus and
Paul Rabinow
_Foucault: A Critical Reader_ edited by D.C.Hoy
I'm sure there are others, but these two do address methodology and might
give you some ideas about what you'd like to read of Foucault to get to that
in addition to Archaelogy of Knowledge.


 but some portions were fairly difficult and
i've heard that sheridan smith's english translation is pretty shady.
finally, i considered rabinow's foucault reader,

I think the Reader is a fair place to start, a lot of it's exerpted sections
from some of the larger works, like Discipline and Punish, plus you have
some shorter things in the same volume, like "Nietzsche, Genealogy,
History," that make nice companion readings.


 but while those who are
familiar with foucault say that it is simple and good for a mere
introduction, those who are not familiar with him already say that it is
difficult.

i was hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

while i've read only portions of foucault's actual writing, i am somewhat
familiar with the major themes of postmodernity. my background is
philosophy, but i've also read on such foucault-influinced subjects as the
New Historicism of literary theory. basically, i believe i have enough
foundation to get into foucault, i'm just wondering where i should start.

i'd appreciate any advice/response at all.
thanks!

jonathan f. keesecker


ps. what about power/knowledge? i've read portions and it seemed not too
unclear, but i've heard it can be difficult.
_
I was going to suggest Power/Knowledge, and Politics, Philosophy, Culture.
They can be difficult, but, for me at least, they often helped understand
things in the other books.

History of Sexuality I is also a good place to start too. It's short and
there's a lot in it.
Best of luck with it.

Regards,

Robert Fanning


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