The Passion of Michel Foucault (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: James Miller
- First Published: 1992
- Type of Work: Intellectual history; cultural criticism; biography
- Time of Work: 1926 to the 1990’s
- Setting: Primarily France and the United States
- Principal Characters: Michel Foucault
- Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Biography
- Subjects: United States or Americans, France or French people, Gay men, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Self, Drugs, Humanism, AIDS
- Locales: France, United States
The debate over the relationship between an author’s life and the texts that author produces has been an enduring one in the modern history of French writing. The influential nineteenth century critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve insisted on examining biographical details in order to interpret works by individual authors. Later, Marcel Proust would take strong exception to this tendency. His emphasis on the autonomy of art continued to be felt throughout the development of modern formalist criticism. Aesthetic formalism culminated in the structuralist and semiological elevation of...
[The entire page is 2583 words long]
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