Death and the Labyrinth: The World of Raymond Roussel

by Michel Foucault, James D. Faubion (Introduction), John Ashbery (Postscript)

Death and the Labyrinth is unique, being Foucault's only work on literature. For Foucault this was "by far the book I wrote most easily and with the greatest pleasure". Here, Foucault explores theory, criticism and psychology through the texts of Raymond Roussel, one of the fathers of experimental writing, whose work has been celebrated by the likes of Cocteau, Duchamp, Breton, Robbe Grillet, Gide and Giacometti.

This revised edition includes an Introduction, Chronology and Bibliography to Foucault's work by James D. Faubion, an interview with Foucault, conducted only nine months before his death, and concludes with an essay on Roussel by the poet John Ashbery.

Genres: Philosophy, Theory, Nonfiction, Art, Writing, Literary Criticism, France

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

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

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michel Foucault's only literary criticism in English, and what a great subject matter: Raymond Roussel. The uber-eccentric wealthy self-published writer of the early 20th Century. A man who traveled around the world, yet never left his stateroom on the luxury liner. Yet he has seen the world through his port hole and is truly one of the amazing visionaries in the literary world. A major influence on DADA, especially Marcel Duchamp, whose life was turned around by going to see a stage version of 'Impressions of Africa."

This book is one of the first studies on Roussel, and is sort of required reading if one wonders into the world of this slightly mad genius.

[Jose Gaona · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://conclusionirrelevante.blogspot...

(...) Este libro, del que he intentado apuntar sus ideas más importantes, muestra a un Foucault extremadamente estructuralista, desentendido de todo nexo con la realidad, en un análisis puramente interno, composicional, de la obra de Roussel (...) Resulta inevitable pensar que la imagen que nos presenta del poeta francés está sesgada por las bondades de su propio análisis o, en términos más llanos, por aquello de "no dejar que la realidad te arruine una buena historia". El Roussel de Foucault no es un poeta, y desde luego no es un poeta rarito. Es un poeta, geómetra, urbanista, cosmólogo y metafísico del lenguaje. Es un superhombre, un titán. Apuesto a que el Roussel de Foucault sería capaz de estornudar con los ojos abiertos y dar por comenzado el universo. Desde luego, la interpretación de Foucault es sugestiva, eso es innegable, ¿pero realmente habla de Roussel? ¿No estará hablando de un Roussel inventado por Foucault? ¿Una especie de Doppelgänger o una imagen filtrada por Foucault del propio Roussel, como en esos espejos convexos que amplifican la imagen? Es difícil afirmar una cosa o la contraria (...). En cierta forma, da la sensación de que así como el lenguaje de Roussel según Foucault es autocontenido, así el Roussel de Foucault es un personaje autocontenido dentro de la imaginación de Foucault. Sobre todo cuando el propio Roussel dedicó una obra, publicada póstumamente, a la elucidación de su obra, del procedimiento soterrado en ella. Elucidación que, lejos de ser completa, solo pudo llegar a ser parcial. (...)

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this was over my head mostly because I haven't read the works of Raymond Roussel. I did find the discussion of language in the last three pages of the book and the postscript afterward to be the best part. I am now well aware of the works of Roussel, and look forward to revisiting this work after I've given myself some time to acquaint myself with them. Hopefully I will have more to say on this topic at that time.

[Lobo]

Doktorat in progress.

[Volbet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughout his bibliography Michel Foucault tended to either be a philosopher or a historian. But not in Death and the Labyrinth: The World of Raymond Roussel. Here he's a fanboy.
In his analysis of Raymond Roussel, Foucault takes European literary analysis back to an almost proto-structualistic state. As nice as it was for Foucault to give Roland Barthes and Georges Bataille a shoutout in the interview included in the English edition of this book, I don't think a lot of what Foucault did here owes anything to the two.

Instead, this is much more a precursor to Foucault's deconstructivist future, where words don't adhere to signs or base materialism, but where words weave a web of their own; where words create meaning through discourse.
As such this is a stark outlier in Foucault's bibliography, as it is in some ways a foundational work for the work he would later do by philosophizing about how discourse as shaped our understanding of history.

[Isaac Price-Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a first reading of this text, and I’m not very familiar with Roussel’s work, so I’ll have to return to this and study it in much more detail. As it is, Foucault’s only book on literature demonstrates an enormous talent for literary analysis. The amount of times this book blew me away is too large to count. Further, its content makes its position in Foucault’s work make perfect sense, with chapter 8 very much highlighting the transition from The Birth of the Clinic to The Order of Things, while also explaining Foucault’s resurgent interest around this time in literature, exhibited in his miscellaneous texts from the period. As a final bonus, the subject matter allows Foucault to make a number of linguistic flourishes, producing his most stylistically tasteful book.

[Nassia Tanri Asik · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a critical work of Roussel's works that I'm not acquainted with. The mot intriguing parts that were helpful in understanding the point of Foucault's criticism are the interview and the postscript. M. F studies these works from a formalists, process, linguistic items and structural point of view. Owing to this work, I'm looking forward to study the books of Roussel, Cocteau and Proust.
Enjoy your reading.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and honest: Death and the Labyrinth: The World of Raymond Roussel is a moving, uneven book with moments of real beauty. What worked: precise, tender descriptions of ordinary days and a heroine you'd want as a neighbor. What didn't: the middle sags and a few scenes feel stretched. Recommend for patient, reflective readers, skip for anyone who wants a quick read.

[altesse sérénissime · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pas le plus gros banger de Michael Crazycault à mon humble imo

[Federico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skimmato in 3 ore

[George]

As complex in its readings of Roussel's (notoriously difficult) fictional work, as Roussel's work itself. An invaluable explanatory critical work, that along with poet John Ashbery's earlier pioneer critiques, illuminate the complex literary art of Roussel.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful! thanks Lia (and JB) --illuminating in my favorite way; i now see how much i do not know

[Derek Fenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be revisiting Roussel's oeuvre this winter with a reread of Locus Solus and some time in all the others. Again Foucault has added to my reading list.

[Muhammed · Rating 1 out of 5]

raymond roussel'ı hiç tanımadığım için foucault'nun analizine de yabancı kaldım. resmen kapkaranlık bi labirentteydim sanki.

[Tarık · Rating 5 out of 5]

İlginç bir kitap, şaşırttı. Dinlendirici, kafa dağıtıcı. Ne olursa olsun sonuna kadar Foucaultcuyuz. Ne hakkında yazarsa yazsın 5/5