John Foucault: This is Not a Pipe, An Art Quantum, 1983

Milan, IT: University of California Press, 1983. First Edition. 8vo. Hard Covers with burgundy book cloth and dust jacket. Dust jacket has slight wear and discoloration on front and back covers and a small tear on the back cover. Very Good. 80 pp.Black and white plates.Translated and edited by James Harkness. 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 the French philosopher-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--"confronting them and within a common system, a figure at once opposed and complementary."Foucault's brief but extraordinarily rich essay offers a startling, highly provocative view of a painter whose influence and popularity continue to grow unchecked. This is Not a Pipe also throws a new, piquantly dancing light on Foucault himself.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.Provenance: From the library of Pasquale Iannetti.