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MushyMay
Brian Eno is mypersonal God FNORD
Registered: 02/18/02
Posts: 423
Loc: ACT, Australia
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
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Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum?
#1331783 - 02/24/03 12:47 PM (21 years, 28 days ago) |
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I'm about to buy it and I wondered if anyone had read it and can give me an opinion.
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Papaver
Madmin Emeritus?
Registered: 06/01/02
Posts: 26,880
Loc: Radio Free Tibet!
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: MushyMay]
#1332592 - 02/24/03 06:02 PM (21 years, 28 days ago) |
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Beware of french, poststructural, linguistic philosophy, as that way madness lies...
Sorry, but that is the straightest answer I've given in ten years to the works of Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard, Lacan, et al...
I guess it's ok, it makes sense, and it's certainly very topical, but what's the end result? Poststructuralism is sort of like that little vacuum monster in the Sea of Monsters in the Beatle's movie, "Yellow Submarine" -- it just keeps swallowing things up, to no particular end, until everything is gone.
That being said, Foucault is probably the most socially conscious and least damaging of the lot. A good argument could be made the the death of art and literary criticism is largely the fault of second rate American interpretations of French critical thought in the latter half of the 20th century...
Sorry, I'm drunk and rambling... I'll leave now...
Read it -- it's major work by him. I read a lot of that stuff, under the paradigm of know thy enemy...
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bert
bodhi
Registered: 10/14/02
Posts: 2,819
Loc: state
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: Papaver]
#1332611 - 02/24/03 06:21 PM (21 years, 28 days ago) |
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Wow, you've got a really cool writing style. You should get drunk more often. And write a book.
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gnrm23
Carpal Tunnel
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: MushyMay]
#1332962 - 02/24/03 11:05 PM (21 years, 28 days ago) |
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if there were no conspiracy, it would be neccessary to invent one...
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Papaver
Madmin Emeritus?
Registered: 06/01/02
Posts: 26,880
Loc: Radio Free Tibet!
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: gnrm23]
#1332980 - 02/24/03 11:30 PM (21 years, 28 days ago) |
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LoLz! Interesting paraphrase of Voltaire...
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Anonymous
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: MushyMay]
#1336250 - 02/25/03 09:21 PM (21 years, 27 days ago) |
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- Post History Deleted Upon User's Request -
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MushyMay
Brian Eno is mypersonal God FNORD
Registered: 02/18/02
Posts: 423
Loc: ACT, Australia
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: ]
#1336342 - 02/25/03 10:31 PM (21 years, 27 days ago) |
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Hang on, hang on. I'm talking about the book "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. Not Michel Foucault. Sorry for any misunderstanding. I will, however, take on board not to read any Michel Foucault in a hurry.
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Anonymous
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: MushyMay]
#1337269 - 02/26/03 08:19 AM (21 years, 26 days ago) |
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Gordon
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: ]
#1372702 - 03/13/03 10:59 AM (21 years, 11 days ago) |
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I've read it. And two other novels by him: Name of the Rose; Island of the Day Before. I might have that last title wrong.
It's worth reading Name of the Rose first: a medieval mystery: very erudite, full of passages of untranslated Latin, but immensely entertaining. Foucault's Pendulum is a novel about conspiracy (to greatly simplify it). You will learn an awful lot and hopefully be entertained, if you have a good attention span and lots of time to spend reading the novel (well, stop watching tv).
FP is not as entertaining as Name of the Rose, and hardly anyone I know that started FP actually finished (and I know of at least two English Professors). To me it was worth it. I found it even quite funny, but it helps if you have a surface knowledge of European languages and customs (it is set in modern Italy, but refers back in time to the age of the Crusades and the Knights Templars).
Gee, talking about it makes me want to read it again. But hey! hasn't Eco just published a new novel. Off to Amazon.com I go.
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Fliquid
Back from being gone.
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Re: Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum? [Re: MushyMay]
#1373955 - 03/13/03 07:41 PM (21 years, 11 days ago) |
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I haven't had time to read a book since 6 years ago...
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