Foucault: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) [Paperback]

Gary Gutting (Author)

Book Description

Series: Very Short Introductions | Publication Date: June 16, 2005

From aesthetics to the penal system, and from madness and civilization to avant-garde literature, Foucault was happy to reject old models of thinking and replace them with fresh versions that are still being debated today. A major influence on Queer Theory and gender studies (he was openly gay and died of an AIDS-related illness in 1984), he also wrote on architecture, history, law, medicine, literature, politics, and of course philosophy. He even managed to write a best seller in France on a book dedicated to the history of systems of thought. Because he never succinctly stated his arguments, those trying to come to terms with Foucault's work have desperately sought introductory material to make his theories clear and accessible for the beginner.

Here, Gary Gutting presents a comprehensive but non-systematic treatment of some highlights of Foucault's life and thought. The book begins with a brief biography to set the social and political stage. It then considers Foucault's thoughts on literature, in particular the avant-garde scene, his philosophical and historical work and the reception he received from the historical community, his treatment of knowledge and power in modern society, and his thoughts on sexuality.

About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`Review from previous edition 'I can think of nobody in the English speaking world better placed to write a VSI on Foucault than Gary Gutting.'' Simon Critchley (Essex University), author of A Very Short Introduction to Continental Philosophy, on the proposal

`'A first-rate introduction to the work of this difficult thinker, which navigates the complexity of his thought with confidence and clarity'' Professor Todd May, Clemson University, South Carolina

About the Author

Gary Gutting is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of French Philosophy in the Twentieth Century and Michel Foucault's Archaeology of Scientific Reason and the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Foucault.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192805576
• ISBN-13: 978-0192805577
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the place to start for Foucault., December 10, 2005

By 

T. Chapman Wing (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foucault: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

Written in an easy-read, yet perfectly scholarly manner, Foucault: A Very Short Introduction is a great jumping-off point for the student or interested scholar of literary, cultural, and/or political theory. While brief (as promised) and cursory, it nevertheless goes to the heart of much of Foucault's work as it has influenced that of other modern thinkers. An enjoyable read that will no doubt point in many directions for further study. Contains a good bibliography as well.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding introduction to the thought of Foucault, April 23, 2008

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foucault: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

Gary Gutting's brief survey of the thought of Michel Foucault is not merely one of the best books in Oxford UP's Very Short Introductions series, but one of the clearest, most insightful pieces on Foucault that I've read. I haven't read much Foucault since working my way through most of his books in the late eighties. To prepare for a re-reading of those books I decided to read this book as a refresher/quick overview. Most of the secondary works on Foucault that I read back when where usually borderline impenetrable. Although Foucault is infinitely more lucid than many other French writers -- there is a world of difference between, for instance, Baudrillard and Foucault -- he is unfortunately too prone to linguistic obfuscation. Too many of Foucault's would-be disciples attempt to write in a prose style that is as opaque as anyone on the Left Bank. Gutting is in contrast a model of clarity. He writes insightfully about Foucault while making the analysis no more difficult than it needs to be.

The chapters of the book are constructed around discussions of Foucault's major works. They are thematic to the degree that those books dealt with specific ideas or subjects. In every case Gutting does a marvelous job of establishing the context of these works, how they depart from traditional discussions, how they provided innovative new ways of understanding our world, and what some of the more problematic aspects of the works are. Gutting clearly (and justifiably) believes that Foucault made some very important contributions that enable us to understand how problematic many of our unexamined assumptions about society are, but at the same time refuses to be a blind disciple. There are shortcomings to Foucault's work as well as some misconceptions. Gutting is as willing to acknowledge the former as he is to battle the latter.

I strongly recommend this to anyone wanting to read Foucault for the first time, as well as anyone (like myself) who haven't read him in a while but would like a refresher. To be frank, I believe I would have made better use of my reading of Foucault had I had an introduction this clear and insightful when I was reading him in the late eighties.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Very Short" and Very Concise, September 29, 2008

By 

Timothy A. Curry (Moscow, ID USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foucault: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

I wish I'd found this little volume before embarking on an attempt to digest Foucault's major works whole - it might have saved considerable frustration. Don't expect a categorical analysis of any of them from Gutting's survey, that's not what this is for. Do expect a more distant perspective from which the forest is no longer obscured by the trees.

Neither is this a Cliff Notes version of Foucault's work - if you haven't taken the trouble to place that within a larger philosophical context the book likely won't be of much use to you. For what it is, however, it succeeds brilliantly within the few pages allotted, and Gutting has performed a minor miracle of concision and clarification. Given the occasional verbosity of Foucault and the more than occasional turbidity of his works, that's worth the purchase price alone.