Foucault and History Extension: Part 2

One of the great ironies of Foucault's work is that in contrast to his professed statements about the death of the author and the fictionalisation involved in using an author's life and context to interpret their works1, his own life and context correlate amazingly well with his writings. It is clear from his writings that Foucault would have detested the sort of analysis I will briefly present here. He stated: 'It is useless to ask questions like: 'Who is its author? Who is speaking? In what circumstances and in what context? With what intentions, what project in mind?'2 However, as was evident in Part 1, he also contradicted this position and admitted a correlation between his life and work on occasion3. Such contradictions were often deliberate on Foucault's part, serving to make it difficult to define him. He once declared: 'I'm amused by the diversity of ways I've been judged and classified.'4 Whether the following amuses him or makes him roll over in his grave, it should highlight the usefulness of studying Foucault in the History Extension course.