Literary Theory Class #4. Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Literary Theory

Class #4

Michel Foucault

(1926-1984)

Influences: post-structuralism, New Historicism, cultural studies, queer theory, literature and medicine, institutional bases of writers and critics, identity formation.

(Norton 1615)

Edward Said: Orientalism, or Western discourse of the East

1961 Madness and Civilization 1963 The Birth of the Clinic 1966 The Order of Things

(Les mots et les choses, une archéologie des sciences humaines)

1969 The Archaeology of Knowledge 1975 Discipline and Punish 1976 The History of Sexuality

Three Stages1960s: Archaeology 考古學1970s: Genealogy 系譜學1980s: Ethics 倫理學

Archaeology 考古學 / 考掘學 它只是一種探究方式，其目的在於重新揭示知識與理論成為可能的基礎，知識在哪種秩序空間被構成，在何種歷史性的基礎上 …思想得以產生，科學得以建立，經驗在哲學中得到反思，合理性得以形成，而它們何以也許又得瓦解、消失。 (Foucault 1973b: xxi, xxii; qtd. in 石計生 372)

例如， 瘋癲如何被歷史建構為理性的對立物

Madness 中世紀 : 瘋人雖由別於常人卻不被鄙視，而被視為受

上天特別眷顧的一群人，與人生以外的世界有神祕接觸，擁有常人沒有的智慧。

理性主義時代 : 指「窮人、叛逆者、流浪漢、與瘋子」等缺乏生產能力的人，醫院、瘋人院、工廠、監獄的設立都是為了囚禁和鎮壓。

現代 ( 十九世紀之後 ): 精神病院誕生，瘋子不再像犯人一樣受到懲戒（窮人脫離監禁是因為被視為廉價勞工的主要來源），卻透過種種控制手段，讓人覺得瘋癲是不道德的，「使罪惡感成為瘋子的一種意識」，由瘋癲產生對非理性的恐懼，成為理性的「他者」 (the Other) 。

Madness Madness 的 discourse 並非由瘋人們自己決

定，而是由自命為理性者所操控。儘管表面上瘋人被排除於社會外，但有關 madness 的 discourse 卻源自「理性」的社會核心意識中。因此，瘋狂與理性間的關係從來就是混淆不清，但又相輔相成的。

Foucault 最驚人的結論是，沒有有關 madness 的 discourse ，我們永遠無法釐清理性的範疇。 ( 王德威 21)

Genealogy 系譜學 先驅 : Nietzsche 「權力意志」 (The will to power): 一切事物都是追求

權力的意志的結果。 系譜學：研究「歷史內容的瞬間湧現」。認為歷史不

是整體或連續的，唯有透過「在地知識」 (local knowledge) ，也就是那些「個別的、在地的、區域的知識，一種缺乏一致性的差異化的知識，其力量完全是由於它週遭的一切對它懷有的強烈敵意所造成的。正是通過這一知識以及這些在地的大眾的知識…批評才得以進行。」「這些被掩埋的、被壓制的知識，事實上關心的是什麼東西？它們關心的是關於鬥爭的歷史知識。」 ( 石計生 377-78)

Discipline and Punish 規訓與懲罰 「系譜學的任務就是要去研究這一系列對「在地的」、「從屬的知識」所形成的論述的形構、斷裂與規則，去研究靈魂、肉體和主體在各種規訓權力權威中的歷史形成過程。這些規訓性權力運作於諸如監獄、學校、醫院和工廠等機構中。」（石計生 379 ）

Panopticism 全景敞視主義全景敞視建築是一種分解觀看 / 被觀看二元統一論的機制。在環形邊緣，人徹底被觀看；在中心瞭望台，人能觀看一切但不被看見。 (Foucault)

Panopticism 全景敞視主義藉由這樣的規訓和懲戒模式， Foucault

指出社會本身其實並非是一個公開的場合，而是一個監視社會，在保證個人權利和自由的表面下，權力深深干預著人的身體。（石計生 379 ）

http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaultcarceralmainframe.html

Jeremy Bentham's ninJeremy Bentham's nineteenth-century prison:eteenth-century prison:The "Panopticon" The "Panopticon"

Prison cell

Prison school

http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaultcarceralmainframe.html

(Fludernik 44)

Ethics 倫理學 The History of Sexuality 性史 Foucault 認為「性欲」並非 Freud 所說的是被

壓抑的，相反的，是被鼓勵的；在歷史上經過論述爆炸的過程。

( 現代的 ) 性→生殖→人口→勞動力→維持社會關係 ( 中世紀的 ) 性→快感→審問 (兒童、瘋子、罪犯各

自的性經驗、不喜歡異性的人的性經驗、夢想、沉溺、輕度躁鬱或狂怒，都受到審問 )

( 石計生 381-83)

Foucault 的《性史》指出，關於性方面的節制，是一個歷史趨勢，但各時期方法不同。相對於基督教極力地將「性活動」精確規範並經由關於欲望的自我分析的詮釋學，賦予人一整套的形式和條件的約束；古希臘哲學家並沒有把性活動視為危險的，其「節制」是一種「和自己較量」的過程，而非涉及「他者」或「制度」「規範」的考量。 ( 石計生 388-89)

Key Terms

Discourse 論述 /話語 每一社會或文化駕馭其成員思維、行動和組織的規範或條例。

話語的功能不僅在建立發出話語者（立法當局、社會輿論、禮教傳統等）與其聽眾 ( 社會成員 ) 的密切關係，且在其訊息傳遞的過程中，暗含了權力的施加和承受的意義。

所有知識訊息之有形或無形的傳遞現象。 ( 王德威 19-20, 29)

Discourse 論述 /話語

Briefly, “language as it is used by and within various constituencies (the law, medicine, the church, for example) for purposes to do with power relationships between people.” (Wolfreys 65)

Discourse = ideology in action (Dobie 170)

Discourse “Human subjectivity and identity itself is prod

uced out of various discursive formations as a result of the subject’s entry into language.”

Language is “always already shot through and informed by figurations and encryptions of power . . . relationships and networks.” (Wolfreys 66)

Discourse Through discourse, knowledge = power. “Discourse disposes: it puts everything in its

place. Modern power penetrates everywhere, giving a specific name to every possible variant of human action so as to master the world and leave nothing unexamined, unknown, uncatalogued.” (Norton 1619)

Discursive Formation 話語形構 話語 (discourse) 的互相推衍連結 or 「組織關聯性」 (intertextuality) ( 王德威 29)

The “principle of dispersion and redistribution” of discourse

“A structurally interactive flow serving, inescapably, a political or ideological function” (Wolfreys 69)

Epistémé 知識領域 或稱 archive (檔案 ) 「一定時間內論述規則的總和」 每一時代對外在世界的特定認知模式傳統史學主張在各時代社會間找出一個起承轉合的連續性； Foucault 卻認為每個時期的「知識領域」都是各自獨立，沒有邏輯發展的必然性。 ( 王德威 20)

Epistémé 知識領域 Deep-rooted, unconscious structures for

organizing knowledge. (Norton 1616) The rules and constraints outside which i

ndividuals cannot think or speak without running the risk of being excluded or silenced. (Dobie 170)

Genealogy (1)

Describing the present through an analysis of the forces that created it. (Norton 1616)

 Genealogy does not claim to be more true than institutionalized knowledge, but merely to be the missing part of the puzzle. 

http://www.california.com/~rathbone/foucau10.htm

Genealogy (2) It works by isolating the central

components of some current day political mechanism and then traces it back to its historical roots. These historical roots are visible to us only through two separate bodies of genealogical knowledge: the dissenting opinions and theories that did not become the established and the local beliefs and understandings. http://www.california.com/~rathbone/foucau10.htm

Power Depersonalized: Power does not belong

to anyone, nor does it all emanate from one specific location, such as the state.

Decentered: Rather, power is diffused throughout the “capillaries” (毛細管 ) of the social system.

(Norton 1618)

Power/Knowledge The production of knowledge is

wedded to productive power. Modern power requires increasingly narrow categories through which it analyzes, differentiates, identifies, and administers individuals. (Norton 1620)

Body PoliticsPower operates through the

daily disciplines and routines to which bodies are subjected. (Norton 1618)

Why is Foucault a post-structuralist? By focusing on the larger

systematic social forces, Foucault highlights the social construction of the ‘subject’ and thereby deconstructs the self. (Norton 1617)

Anti-humanism He objects to humanism, esp. its

claim that “we are ‘individuals’ with unique nature, possessing coherent interior identities, motives, desires, and conscious intentions.”

(Norton 1617)

Counter-enlightenment

Connected the rise of the individual with “a tremendous decrease in freedom.”

“In each case, an institution demands, examines and watches over all subjects, and punishes deviants.”

Such a society is prisonlike, or “carceral”.

(Norton 1618)

Anti-Marxism Foucault contends that since power operates

in innumerable places and taking many different forms, there is no single privileged place for the political activist to go to work, no locus of power whose removal will bring the whole system tumbling down. (Norton 1618)

New Historicism (1)

New Historicism gives “equal weighting” to literary and non-literary material (Barry 174).

It is “a mode of study in which literary and non-literary texts are given equal weight and constantly inform or interrogate each other” (Barry 172).

New Historicism (2)

Old Historicism:

(1) Were the characters based on real people?

(2) Do the events recounted in the text re-create experiences from the author’s life?

(3) Does the text capture the spirit of the times accurately? (Dobie 167)

New Historicism (3)

New Historicism:

How does the text reveal and comment on the disparate discourses of the culture it depicts? (Dobie 167)

Questions to Ask of a Text (1) What various discourses do you meet in the t

ext? Which ones are powerful? Which represent the experience of people wh

o have traditionally been overlooked, marginalized, or misrepresented?

What conflicts do you discern in the text between the discourse of the powerful and that of the powerless? (Dobie 180)

Questions to Ask of a Text (2) What are the social rules observed in the text? Is the text critical of them? Or does it treat the

m as models of behavior? How does this text support or challenge the v

alues, beliefs, and/or practices of the culture it depicts?

How does the ideological stance imply about the culture it depicts, that of the author’s time, and that of subsequent periods? (Dobie 180)

References Dobie, Ann B. Theory into Practice. Thomson/Heinle,

2002. Fludernik, Monica. “Carceral Topography: Spatiality,

Liminality, and Corporeal in the Literary Prison.”Textual Practice, 1999 Spring; 13 (1): 43-77.

Foucault, Michel 著。王德威譯。《知識的考掘》。麥田， 1993 。

Leitch, Vincent B, ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2001.

Wolfreys, Julian. Critical Keywords in Literary and Cultural Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

石計生著。《社會學理論》。三民書局。 2006 。

Mikhail M. Bakhtin

(1895-1975)

1929 Problems of Dostoevsky’s Art 1963 Problems in Dostoevsky’s Poetics 1966 Rabelais and His World 1981 The Dialogic Imagination (trans. by

Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist)

Key Terms

Dialogism 對話 (vs. monologism) Monologism: Saussaure’s view of langue, str

ucturalism, Russian Formalism Monologism → poetry

Dialogism → prose, the novel

Dialogism 對話

The dialogism of language refers to the “intense interanimation and struggle between one’s own and another’s word.” (Norton 1187)

A dialogic word is an antonym to authoritative discourse. Dialogism means decentralizing or a centrifugal force in the conception of the subject or of truth (as evident in marginal comic genres).

Heteroglossia 眾聲喧嘩 The “internal stratification” of language Heteroglossia denotes the different stratas (S

ocial, professional, dialects, jargons etc) in the same language. Thus, heteroglossia is opposed to unitary language and what makes its uniqueness is this diversity.

In the novel, heteroglossia introduces a re-organization of all the levels of a language current at the time described in there.

heteroglossia First of all, in a novel (especially in an English comic novel) one

will identify the “common language” of a given social group, used by the author as “a common view” in order to approach the reader.

Secondly, the author will take distance from this “common view”, by objectifying it. Sometimes he will exaggerate, sometime he will agree; he will not be static, but in a perpetual movement.

Finally, “the common view” will be linked to other languages or in a gradual way or abruptly. In order to do so, the style of the novel will move from epic to journalistic, poetic and so on. This inter-action between languages is made throw dialogization. The languages will not fusion together and this permits us to identify them.

heteroglossia Bakhtine mentioned two distinct features of heterogl

ossia in the novel: 1. A combination of different languages and verbal-i

deological belief systems, which means that the character’s perception of the world (his ideological world) is expressed throw his discourse. (For example, a character might speak as a judge.)

2. These languages and socio-belief systems that they denote, are incorporated in the novel for author’s intentions. They are tested, unmasked, and then destroyed as they were false and hypocritical. http://home.adm.unige.ch/~kukorelly/bakhtin%20handout.doc

Polyphony 多聲部 the multivoiced nature of discourse The first voice the reader encounters is the o

ne of the narrator. . . . in the novel, as opposed to poetry (which has only one voice), the narrator always has two voices. It can be either literary, as in a description, or oral, for instance when the narrator addresses the reader.

Polyphony All of the characters are also entitled to have a voi

ce. The voices of the different characters are like stereotypes and are probably inspired by people met by the author, they have their own language. Their purpose is to give information about the social and cultural background of the personas in the novel. Another interesting fact is that the voice of the narrator can interact with the voices of the characters. http://home.adm.unige.ch/~kukorelly/bakhtin%20handout.doc

Polyphony Finally, there is one last type of voice, which is pre

sented under the shape of quotes. . . . The voice of the narrator uses the voices of different authors, thus relating to their background, from a source which is totally exterior to the novel. This way, the narrator appropriates himself the work of others, making it his own voices, because it gives information about his milieu. http://home.adm.unige.ch/~kukorelly/bakhtin%20handout.doc

Carnival 狂歡節 During the festivity and the carnival

as portrayed by Rabelais, the marginalized and the oppressed take centre stage and overthrow authority by turning the world upside down. http://culturitalia.uibk.ac.at/boll900/konsteng.htm

carnival According to Bakhtin, “[A]ll were considered equal d

uring carnival. Here, in the town square, a special form of free and familiar contact reigned among people who were usually divided by the barriers of caste, property, profession, and age” (Bakhtin 10). At carnival time, the unique sense of time and space causes the individual to feel he is a part of the collectivity, at which point he ceases to be himself. It is at this point that, through costume and mask, an individual exchanges bodies and is renewed. At the same time there arises a heightened awareness of one’s sensual, material, bodily unity and community (Clark and Holquist 302). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakhtin

Carnival Bakhtin’s notion of carnival is connected

with that of the grotesque 怪誕 . The collectivity partaking in the carnival is aware of its unity in time as well as its historic immorality associated with its continual death and renewal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakhtin

Carnivalesque Those forms of unofficial cultures

(the early novel among them) that resist official culture, political oppression, and totalitarian order through laughter, parody, and “grotesque realism. (Norton 1187)

Chronotope 時空型 文學所表現的時間與空間的內在聯繫性。 The interconnectedness of time and space an

d their central role in constituting literary genres. (Norton 1187)

各種語言文化所蘊含的時空觀念不同，例如曆法 ( 中國的農曆 ) 、時間的組織 ( 中國的陰陽五行觀念 ) 。

Chronotope 時空型 “the intrinsic connectedness of temporal and

spatial relationships that are artistically expressed in literature”

an author must create entire worlds and, in doing so, is forced to make use of the organizing categories of the real world in which he lives. For this reason chronotope is a concept that engages reality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakhtin

References 劉康著。《對話的喧聲：巴赫汀文化理論述評》。麥田， 2005 。

Leitch, Vincent B, ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2001.