Foucault: Lecture 25, 27 May 1986

<p><em>The Deleuze Seminars</em> is a collection of audio recordings, transcriptions, and English translations of, and supplemental materials from, the lectures French philosopher Gilles Deleuze gave during  his career at the University of Paris 8.</p>

<p>"Foucault" was a 26-lecture seminar given from October 1985 to June 1986.  In these lectures, Deleuze offers his interpretation and analysis of French philosopher Michel Foucault's work. Examining the theoretical foundations and major themes of Foucault's philosophy, Deleuze dedicates several lectures to each of what he calls the "three axes" of Foucault's thought. This seminar coincides with the publication of Deleuze's book <em>Foucault</em> (1986).</p>

<p>In the 27 May 1986 lecture, <span new="" roman="" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;
font-family:" times="">as the first of two “optional” end-of-semester sessions, the “music session” unfolds with an important focus on Pierre Boulez’s <i>Pli selon pli </i>(with two recorded parts played during the session and commentary from an unnamed seminar participant). After the considerable development of “line of the fold” in the Foucault seminar as well as in the <i>Foucault </i>book<i>,</i> Deleuze is here well advanced in preparing his analysis of the fold, and indeed, Boulez’s work and title, derived from Mallarmé’s poetry, will play a key, if somewhat understated role in Deleuze’s final seminar (in 1986-87) and the next book, both on the fold and on Leibniz and the Baroque. Starting on what he meant previously by “interpretation” as related to the seminar on Foucault, Deleuze asserts that we have to draw the lines as the signature of philosophical concepts, hence indicating already his larger project, <i>What Is Philosophy?</i> However, with the session’s main focus on linking the concept of the fold and unfolding (<em>le dépli</em>) as an artistic gesture (cf. Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Mallarmé), Deleuze asks the unnamed presenter to offer selections from Pierre Boulez’s composition <i>Pli selon pli</i>, which incorporates selected Mallarmé poems, and to which Deleuze provides a reading of one of these poems. For Deleuze, this presentation provides evidence of thought’s relationship with art, particularly with the fold, not just in Mallarmé’s poetry (to which Deleuze refers in considerable detail). Deleuze also draws on the English essayist Thomas de Quincey and his book <em>Revolt of the Tartars</em> for additional support on this relationship. However, given the abrupt ending of the session, it is possible that the complete recording is missing. </span></p>

<p>This dataset for the new version includes four files, the translation and transcription of the session in Open Data Text (odt) format, an aggregate version of the audio recordings in a single mp3, and the original Paris-8 French transcription of the recorded lecture. The aggregate audio file has been downsampled.</p>

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<p><em>Les Séminaires de Deleuze</em> sont une collection d'enregistrements audio, de transcriptions et de traductions en anglais et de documents complémentaires des conférences que le philosophe français Gilles Deleuze a donné lors de sa carrière à l'Université de Paris 8.</p>

<p>«Foucault» était un séminaire de 26 conférences donné d'octobre 1985 à juin 1986. Dans ces conférences, Deleuze offre son interprétation et son analyse de l’œuvre du philosophe français Michel Foucault. En examinant les fondements théoriques et les thèmes majeurs de la philosophie de Foucault, Deleuze consacre plusieurs conférences à chacun de ce qu'il appelle les «trois axes» de la pensée de Foucault. Ce séminaire coïncide avec la publication du livre de Deleuze <em>Foucault</em> (1986).</p>

<p>Dans la conférence du 27 mai 1986, Deleuze commence par expliquer ce que veut dire «interprétation» par rapport à son cours sur Foucault. Les autres sujets de discussion comprennent: la création de concepts; la nouvelle acception des noms et des mots; les concepts originaux amenés par Foucault (Deleuze affirme qu'il en faut en tracer les lignes, la signature des concepts philosophiques); le pli et le dépli comme geste artistique; l'invocation du pli chez poète français Stéphane Mallarmé; et l'essayiste anglais Thomas de Quincey et son livre <em>La révolte des Tartares</em>. Une grande partie de la conférence consiste en l'écoute du compositeur, chef d'orchestre et écrivain français Pierre Boulez, <em>Pli selon pli: Portrait de Mallarmé</em>, qui incorpore des vers de la poésie de Mallarmé. Deleuze lit aussi une partie de la poésie de Mallarmé qui correspond à la composition de Boulez.</p>