Category Archives: Foucault

Literary Self-Fashioning and the Avant-Garde

Christopher Marlowe, pre-modern literary self-fashioner Two essays recently came to my attention — one fresh on the Haggard and Halloo web site, by Tony Lopez, titled “Embarrassment” (though the header above this reads “Promoting Your Own Poetry”), which itself takes … Continue reading

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Tour of the Madhouse

What is “madness”? How have we defined it over the years, and how has society chosen to deal with those it defines as “mad”? In the H.H. Richardson Complex in Buffalo just blocks from our house, we have a living … Continue reading

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“You have come to convey me to my coffin”

This is the oddly formal, musical phrase that Mr. Hilditch utters towards the end of William Trevor‘s novel Felicia’s Journey. It’s the first interesting, original thing he’s said, and perhaps the most honest — his speech up till now has … Continue reading

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Grizzly Man

That Tim Treadwell, the subject of Werner Herzog‘s documentary Grizzly Man, was a bit unstable is beyond question. But was he mad? I think of this as I’m still reading Foucault’s History of Madness and sifting through recent posts on … Continue reading

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History of Madness, p. I

There’s much to think and say about this volume as I begin to wade through it for a class this fall. However, it’s far too much to begin that work of writing it down to a size that would be … Continue reading

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