ORWELL’S 1984 AND FOUCAULT THURSDAY

ORWELL -BORN ERIC ARTHUR BLAIR, AN ENGLISHMAN, BORN IN INDIA IN SERVED WITH INDIAN IMPERIAL POLICE IN BURMA, WHEN ENGLAND ACTIVELY PARTICIPATED IN COLONIALISM – WORKED AS A TUTOR, TEACHER, AND BOOKSHOP ASSISTANT -END OF 1936, WOUNDED WHILE FIGHTING IN THE CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN

ORWELL (CONT’D) -WORKED FOR THE BBC DURING WWII FROM WORKED AS LITERARY EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTOR FOR OTHER NEWS PUBLICATIONS -PUBLISHED ANIMAL FARM IN 1945, AND 1984 IN INTERESTINGLY, 1984 WAS NOT THE ORIGINIAL TITLE OF THE BOOK – BECAUSE OF ILLNESS, THE DATE WAS PUSHED BACK

1984 -DYSTOPIAN NOVEL -SCIENCE FICTION -POLITICAL/WAR FICTION -ISSUES OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY, LANGUAGE -EXPLORES THE DYSTOPIAN WORLD OF OCEANIA VIA THE PROTAGONIST, WINSTON SMITH -PURPOSES OF PROJECT SPACE, ABOUT POWER AND CONTROL OF SPACE, FROM A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE

CRITICISM AND FOUCAULT -“THEORY”, AS SEEN ON THE PURDUE OWL SITE, ENCOMPASSES EVERYTHING - POETICS - RHETORIC - MEDIA AND DISCOURSE THEORY -SEMIOTICS - RACE AND ETHNICITY THEORY - GENDER THEORY - VISUAL AND POP CULTURE THEORY

CRITICISM (CONT’D) -ULTIMATELY, ENTAILS A MODE OF QUESTIONING AND ANALYSIS THAT GOES BEYOND “LITERARINESS” OF LITERATURE -THEORY NOW ENTAILS SKEPTICISM TOWARDS SYSTEMS, INSTITUTIONS, AND NORMS -INCLUDES A READINESS TO TAKE CRITICAL STANDS AND ENGAGE IN RESISTANCE - INTEREST IN BLIND SPOTS, CONTRADICTIONS, DISTORTIONS -OFTEN LINKS LOCAL AND PERSONAL PRACTICES TO LARGER ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, HISTORICAL, AND ETHICAL FORCES OF CULTURE

MICHEL FOUCAULT -ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL EUROPEAN WRITERS AND THINKERS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY -BORN IN FRANCE, SPECIALIZED IN PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY AT ONE OF THE NATION’S TOP UNIVERSITIES -WORK IS OFTEN UNCLASSIFIABLE (HISTORY? PHILOSOPHY? CULTURAL THEORY?) AND CONTROVERSIAL – BUT THE QUESTIONS HE RAISED AND TOPICS HE ADDRESSED BECAME CENTRAL PARTS OF TODAY’S INTELLECTUAL LANDSCAPE -CONSIDERED A POSTSTRUCTURALIST/NEW HISTORICIST

FOUCAULT (CONT’D) -LIFELONG PREOCCUPATION WITH THE WAYS IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS ARE “ADMINISTERED” BY THE VARIOUS BUREAUCRATIC INSTITUTIONS – HOSPITALS, PRISONS, THE MILITARY, SCHOOLS- THAT INCREASINGLY RENDER PEOPLE DOCILE IN THE MODERN WORLD -WROTE ON EVERYTHING FROM MODERN MEDICINE, TO PRISONS, TO SEXUALITY -USES THE TERM “POWER/KNOWLEDGE” TO INDICATE HOW PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE IS CONNECTED TO PRODUCTIVE POWER

FOUCAULT (CONT’D) -HIS DISCUSSION OF PANOPTICISM (BORROWED TERM FROM NINETEENTH- CENTURY CRITIC JEREMY BENTHAM), MEANING “ALL-SEEING,” POWER THAT KEEPS SUBJECTS UNDER CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE USEFUL FOR ORWELL’S NOTE – IMAGE OF PANOPTICON PRISON IS PROVIDED IN UPCOMING READING (PAGE 3) -READING ASSIGNED MERE EXCERPT FROM FOUCAULT’S DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH (1975) WILL SERVE AS THE MAIN CRITICAL METHODOLOGY TO VIEW ORWELL’S 1984

PROJECT SPACE -ASKED TO INTERPRET 1984 THROUGH CLOSE READING AND RESEARCH -CONSIDER THE RHETORIC AND POLITICS OF SPACE -SPACE CAN BE URBAN, COMMUNITY, PRIVATE, AS WELL AS INSITUTIONAL (UNIVERISTY, HOSPITAL) -INTERESTED IN HOW SPACE SHAPES OUR CONCEPTION OF WORLD, SELF, AND OTHER

ASSIGNMENT -USING YOUR ANNOTATIONS, FIND A MOMENT IN 1984 THAT REMINDS YOU OF ONE OF THE IDEAS OR TERMS WE’VE DISCUSSED THIS MORNING -FIND A SIGNIFICANT PARAGRAPH AND BREAKDOWN HOW YOU THINK THAT IDEA OR TERM COULD APPLY TO THAT PARAGRAPH AND WHY -HELPS TO THINK ABOUT THE ELEMENTS OF RHETORIC