Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling

Michel Foucault (1926-84) was one of the most significant social theorists of the twentieth century. Fabienne Brion is professor in the School of Law and Criminology at the Catholic University of Louvain. Bernard E. Harcourt is chair of the Department of Political Science and the Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology at the University of Chicago. Stephen W. Sawyer is chair and assistant professor of history at the American University of Paris.

"Bringing together themes from two of Foucault's most important works-Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality-this book demonstrates a rethinking of the theoretical underpinnings of the former on the basis of his work on avowal in the latter. An excellent introduction lays out very clearly the background to these texts including insights into Foucault's prisoners' rights activism as well as some of his key differences with Sartre." -Kevin Anderson, University of California, Santa Barbara "A stunning set of lectures given by Foucault that focus on the history of 'avowing' one's acts and the truth of who one is. Foucault seeks to understand at what point it became important not only to confess to a crime, but to avow one's act in public. For Foucault, avowal of one's criminality before an established authority becomes a way of reestablishing that authority, and resisting avowal becomes tantamount to civil disobedience. The political implications of his analysis become especially clear in the interviews included here. This is wonderful and arresting read." -Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley "The publication of Foucault's Louvain lectures, Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling, beautifully and rigorously established and commented upon by Fabienne Brion and Bernard Harcourt, is an important event in the contemporary blossoming of Foucault studies. In no way is it redundant with the lectures at the College de France, whose series is now practically complete. With this amazingly rich inquiry, focusing on the mythical, religious, and judiciary dimensions of 'avowal,' we are offered a unique possibility to understand how Foucault's genealogy articulated the order of discourse and the power of institutions." -Etienne Balibar, Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense, author of Politics and the Other Scene "Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling is one of Foucault's most stirring inquiries into what he has named 'the hermeneutics of oneself.' These lectures stage the concept of avowal in performances as varied as Greek tragedy, criminal justice, and confessional practices; and they provide us with some of Foucault's most illuminating observations on the intimate and agonistic relations between sites of enunciation, orders of truth, and investments of power. The subject of avowal is never free of the ethical exigency and the discursive contingency of 'chang[ing] itself, transform[ing] itself, displac[ing] itself, and becom[ing] to some extent other than itself,' and Foucault's genius lies in providing us with critical and genealogical reflections on the worldly practices of avowal. Bernard Harcourt and Fabienne Brion's essential afterword provides both a frame and a ballast to the book. This is a considerable addition to the English archive of the work of Michel Foucault." -Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University