“As the archaeology of our thought shows, man is an invention of recent date.
And one perhaps nearing its end.” This jolly sentiment, courtesy of Michel
Foucault, is one of many proclamations to be found in Foucault for Beginners by
Chris Horrocks and Zoran Jevtic (Icon, £8.99, ISBN 1 874166 54 4), an easy
introduction to the man and his philosophies. Essential quotes are to be found
juxtaposed with cartoons of Foucault on the beach with Nietzsche, Freud and
Marx, or naked at a Californian bathhouse, which make the book easy on the eye
of the reader, but tougher on the brain. After 175 pages of Foucault, the
selected further reading will be for serious fans only.
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