Loucura, linguagem, literatura

by Michel Foucault

Esta seleção de textos sobre loucura, linguagem e literatura, inédita em português, busca fazer jus à centralidade desses temas no pensamento de Foucault. Figura-limite dos mecanismos de controle e conhecimento das sociedades ocidentais, o louco apresenta uma curiosa afinidade com a literatura, não só pela frequência com que aparece representado em obras literárias mas pela maneira como ambos desorganizam os códigos linguísticos estabelecidos. É sobre essa relação do louco com a linguagem e a sociedade, sobretudo no teatro barroco e nas obras de Artaud e Roussel, que o autor se debruça nos primeiros ensaios, partindo em seguida para uma reflexão sobre a experiência da filosofia em Bataille e dali para um conjunto de textos sobre estruturalismo e crítica literária, que incluem análises detidas sobre obras de Flaubert e Balzac. Datados em sua maioria das décadas de 1960 e 1970, esses textos, escritos de maneira fluida, como uma série de anotações vivas e interligadas, apresentam uma versão oblíqua de Foucault sobre temas que o autor tinha famosamente em conta. Organizado pelos especialistas Henri-Paul Fruchaud, Daniele Lorenzini e Judith Revel, que também assina a introdução, a edição traz notas críticas para elucidar temas abordados no contexto da obra foucaultiana.

386 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2024

About the author

Paul-Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationships between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels. His thought has influenced academics, especially those working in communication studies, anthropology, psychology, sociology, criminology, cultural studies, literary theory, feminism, Marxism and critical theory.
Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV, at the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser, and at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he earned degrees in philosophy and psychology. After several years as a cultural diplomat abroad, he returned to France and published his first major book, The History of Madness (1961). After obtaining work between 1960 and 1966 at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, he produced The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and The Order of Things (1966), publications that displayed his increasing involvement with structuralism, from which he later distanced himself. These first three histories exemplified a historiographical technique Foucault was developing called "archaeology".
From 1966 to 1968, Foucault lectured at the University of Tunis before returning to France, where he became head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of Paris VIII. Foucault subsequently published The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969). In 1970, Foucault was admitted to the Collège de France, a membership he retained until his death. He also became active in several left-wing groups involved in campaigns against racism and human rights abuses and for penal reform. Foucault later published Discipline and Punish (1975) and The History of Sexuality (1976), in which he developed archaeological and genealogical methods that emphasized the role that power plays in society.
Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV/AIDS; he became the first public figure in France to die from complications of the disease. His partner Daniel Defert founded the AIDES charity in his memory.

Reviews

[Luiza Araujo · Rating 5 out of 5]

“a herdeira da fala do louco é a literatura.”

foi por conta desta crença que o crítico literário e psicólogo Michel Foucault passou mais de uma década analisando as ligações entre a loucura e a literatura.

confesso que, desde que li o livro “O Perigo de Estar Lúcida”, de Rosa Montero (@todavialivros ), no ano passado, estou fascinada em estudar mais sobre essa conexão.

e quando encontrei esse livro em uma das minhas voltinhas na livraria, ele tinha o meu nome estampado na capa.

este é um livro que expõe a fabricação da institucionalização dos “loucos” — ou melhor, de todos aqueles considerados desviantes por contestarem as regras da sociedade, seja rompendo padrões de gênero, sexuais ou religiosos.

e foi através da literatura que muitos desses “desviantes” (os chamados loucos) foram capazes de resistir a momentos de repressão das minorias, como a própria ditadura militar.

por isso, Foucault afirma com tanta potência que “a herdeira da fala do louco é a literatura.”

apaixonados por literatura podem esperar uma leitura ideal para entender melhor os mecanismos de poder que moldam a nossa sociedade — e como a escrita sempre foi uma ferramenta de resistência..

[Sydney Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars.

This book presents previously unpublished essays from Foucault on madness in society and writings on language. These essays are very specific to plays and works Foucault was interested in at the time of writing, therefore, if you are not familiar with the work being referenced, be ready to do a lot of searching as you are reading. Similarly, this book contains a lot of notes from Foucault on these topics that are akin to getting notes from a friend after you’ve missed a month of lectures: nothing makes sense. It is always nice to see the early works of something masterful but someone brilliant but I personally spent too much time trying to discern what Foucault was saying in these sections. Before reading this book you need to have read Foucault’s better known works, some of which I haven’t read, and that made this book much more difficult to follow. I plan to return to this book again after reading Madness and Civilization and The Archaeology of Knowledge.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most under appreciated projects in…what should be redefined sociolinguistically or ethnologically as cultures anthropological history. This is the place where philology meets structuralism. To anyone who understands semiology or psychology it is evident that representational constructs are reverse engineered here. Those who create and maintain algorithms for top social media companies and governments, understand this. Off the record…let’s call it “magic”.

[Juliana Fujimoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

é um assunto muito interessante, mas um pouco repetitivo para quem já leu foucault antes. o texto retoma com frequência o conceito de loucura e, mesmo quando apresenta uma ideia nova, acaba voltando à mesma “nova” ideia ao longo do desenvolvimento. não sei se isso se deve à edição, mas, em dizer a verdade de si, isso parece ter funcionado melhor.