Bryan Appleyard

At last we learn what Foucault was All About

Michel Foucault

By

Faber & Faber 448pp £25 order from our bookshop

Postwar French thought tends to agitate the English. The grandeur of its rhetoric, the ambition of its claims, the apparent imprecision of its terms and the frequent opacity of its analysis all conspire to alienate a people whose fondest native traditions are empiricism, clarity and wry self–deprecation. And what exactly are they thinking about anyway? Marx is an enduring, unhealthy obsession as was, in the Sixties, taking to the streets with gangs of murderous Maoist students. Things have not improved – look at Jacques Derrida. What’s all that about?

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'I was dumbfounded by the view of the Berlin Wall from the eastern side. It seemed inconceivable that in under thre… ,
    • RT : Danger for ‘local’ staff, access in exchange for silence (and logos) - all sounds familiar in this fascinating look… ,
    • 'He has long been eclipsed by Vermeer, though his interiors are arguably more ambitious.' David Gelber on the Dutc… ,
    • 'The wicked are truly revolting and the rage is wholly understandable' on new thrillers by John Le… ,
    • In @aaciman's sequel to 'Call Me By Your Name', 'Erotic urgency has merged with middle age’s frugality of heart', s… ,
    • 'The repression of free speech in Uganda is common. Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 Press Freedom Index ranks Ugand… ,
    • RT : The Topeka School is out today! I reviewed it for and I'm psyched to see him talking at the Tate tonigh… ,
    Follow Us