Michel Foucault. David Macey has again written a superb biography, this time unlike the Fanon a slim, neat volume of 160 pages (Reaktion Books, 2004). The book is "passionant." There are enough AHA! moments to keep your mind alert. In fact, it happens every two or three pages. Here is an example:
Just before Lent 1952, Foucault went with the Verdeaux to visit a clinic on the shores on Lake Constance in Sweden [this must be "Switzerland"]. It was run by Binswanger's follower Roland Kuhn and was the scene of a curious yearly ritual. The inmates spent much of the spring making large and elaborate masks for themselves and the staff. On Shrove Tuesday they processed through the neighbouring town of Musterlingen, led by a giant figure representing Carnival. Staff and patients were all masked, and were therefore indistinguishable from one another. When they returned to the hospital grounds, the masks were taken off and the Carnival figure was burned with great ceremony. Georges Verdeaux filmed the procession for research purposes and there is something very eerie about his silent home movie. (37-38).
Such a foucauldian scene! The image is haunting.
