TY - JOUR
T1 - The problem of confession
T2 - The productive failure of Foucault's History of Sexuality
AU - Elden, Stuart
PY - 2005/1/1
Y1 - 2005/1/1
N2 - Utilising recently published lecture courses, some materials archived in Paris and the full range of the writings published in Foucault's life, this article traces the history of Foucault's last major project, the History of Sexuality. The guiding theme is the notion of confession, which was to be the subject of the second volume of the original abandoned plan and the fourth volume of the unfinished plan. Highlighting the problems of the original formulations of this concept, both in The Will to Knowledge ma the Les Anormaux lecture course, the article shows why Foucault needed to trace the theme much further back historically. Foucault's failure to complete the original project was, it is argued here, a productive failure, as it led him into new and fruitful avenues.
AB - Utilising recently published lecture courses, some materials archived in Paris and the full range of the writings published in Foucault's life, this article traces the history of Foucault's last major project, the History of Sexuality. The guiding theme is the notion of confession, which was to be the subject of the second volume of the original abandoned plan and the fourth volume of the unfinished plan. Highlighting the problems of the original formulations of this concept, both in The Will to Knowledge ma the Les Anormaux lecture course, the article shows why Foucault needed to trace the theme much further back historically. Foucault's failure to complete the original project was, it is argued here, a productive failure, as it led him into new and fruitful avenues.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=27944490401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1479758042000331925
DO - 10.1080/1479758042000331925
M3 - Review Article
AN - SCOPUS:27944490401
SN - 1479-7585
VL - 9
SP - 23
EP - 41
JO - Journal for Cultural Research
JF - Journal for Cultural Research
IS - 1
ER -