This Is Not a Pipe / Edition 2

by Michel Foucault, James Harkness, René Magritte

Overview

What does it mean to write "This is not a pipe" across a bluntly literal painting of a pipe? René Magritte's famous canvas provides the starting point for a delightful homage by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault. Much better known for his incisive and mordant explorations of power and social exclusion, Foucault here assumes a more playful stance. By exploring the nuances and ambiguities of Magritte's visual critique of language, he finds the painter less removed than previously thought from the pioneers of modern abstraction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520236943
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	07/01/2008
Series:	Quantum Books , #24
Edition description:	Second Edition, 25th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	104
Sales rank:	634,689
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

One of the most important theorists of the twentieth century, Michel Foucault's (1926-1984) many influential books include Discipline and Punish, The Archeology of Knowledge, The History of Sexuality, and The Discourse on Language.

Table of Contents

List of Plates     vii
Acknowledgments     ix
Translator's Introduction     1
Two Pipes     15
The Unraveled Calligram     19
Klee, Kandinsky, Magritte     32
Burrowing Words     36
Seven Seals of Affirmation     43
Nonaffirmative Painting     53
Two Letters by Rene Magritte     55
Notes     59
Index     65
Plates     66

Editorial Reviews

"Foucault poses major questions about pictorial reference, and his original and novel account is worth arguing with."

Leonardo

"Magritte's respectful fan letters to Mr. Foucault, which are included in this volume, the useful introduction and splendid translation by James Harkness and the handy black-and-white reproductions of many of Magritte's works combine to make this a document of extraordinary interest."

New York Times

"This essay not only proposes a new understanding of Magritte; it also constitutes a perfect illustration and introduction to the thought of the philosopher himself, France's great wizard of paradox."

New York Review of Books

"Foucault poses major questions about pictorial reference, and his original and novel account is worth arguing with."

Leonardo

"Magritte's respectful fan letters to Mr. Foucault, which are included in this volume, the useful introduction and splendid translation by James Harkness and the handy black-and-white reproductions of many of Magritte's works combine to make this a document of extraordinary interest."

The New York Times

"Magritte's respectful fan letters to Mr. Foucault, which are included in this volume, the useful introduction and splendid translation by James Harkness and the handy black-and-white reproductions of many of Magritte's works combine to make this a document of extraordinary interest."

The New York Times

A realistic painting of a pipe is underscored by the sentence, This Is Not a Pipe. French philosopher Michel Foucault's classic essay on the complex relationship between language and image in René Magritte's painting has long been standard reading for students trying to understand the postmodern world. The informative introduction to this edition and the black-and-white reproductions of Magritte's work are good accompaniments to Foucault's text.

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