Bryan Appleyard
At last we learn what Foucault was All About
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.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Too many historians sneer at our forbears; scolding them if they follow the customs of their own day ... tut-tutting if the poor things are detected having a little fun.'
From the archive, Mary Clive on medieval travellers.
http://ow.ly/yk8a50yrjSG
'Reading Taylor’s book has also made me join a book club. I did not like the January book; I did enjoy drinking gin while saying why.'
@clamorousvoice explores the history of women readers.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/she-readers
'When the language starts functioning as a character in fiction, when it is there drawing attention to itself ... It’s not anything that anybody really takes seriously.'
Our interview with Anthony Burgess from 1983.
http://ow.ly/5u0y50yrjoO