Hallucinating Foucault
Encyclopedia
Hallucinating Foucault is a 1996 novel by Patricia Duncker
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to meet the object of his thesis, Paul Michel.
he meets Jacques Martel, a friend of her father's who knows Paul Michel. He then decides to move to Paris
to find him, and reads his letters to Michel Foucault
in the library. He finds out Paul Michel is in Clermont-Ferrand
. He arrives there at night and finds accommodation in Romagnat
. He starts meeting with Paul Michel. Soon enough, they are allowed to spend whole days out in the gardens. Eventually, they manage to winkle a day outside of the premises. Michel gets attacked by a man in a bar and fights back. He then kisses the protagonist. Michel manages to trick the restaurant into believing they are with the town major and thus get off without being reported for the fight. Paul Michel is later granted two months away from the madhouse since the protagonist's visits have improved his condition considerably. The protagonist drives him down to Nice
, where they stay with an old friend of his, Alain Legras, and his wife. During their stay they finally become lovers when Michel reassures the protagonist he needn't worry about his virtue and the protagonist argues asking if his opinion on the matter doesn't count. While the protagonist wants Michel to start writing again as part of his "recovery" Michel is, like the Germanist predicted, unable to do so because Foucault, his reader, is dead. Michel tells him about his relationship with Michel Foucault and claims that their relationship cannot last, that the protagonist must go on to write his thesis about him. Eventually, Michel gets up one night, takes the car and he kills himself, under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Although it is clear to all it was intentional.
After the funeral, the protagonist returns to England, writes his thesis and becomes the foremost expert on Paul Michel's writing, but fails to expand on the writer's life. His relationship with the Germanist, who flew to France to help him after the accident and got him through the funeral, ends after that, even though they move in similar academic circles.
Patricia Duncker
Patricia Duncker is a British novelist and academic.-Academic career:Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Duncker attended Bedales school in England and, after a period spent working in Germany, read English at Newnham College, Cambridge...
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Plot introduction
A postgraduate student goes to FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to meet the object of his thesis, Paul Michel.
Plot summary
A postgraduate student writing a thesis on the French writer Paul Michel starts a relationship with the Germanist, a girl he meets in the library, at Cambridge University. She encourages him to look at his biography more closely rather than only focus solely on the texts. They have dinner with her father; later in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
he meets Jacques Martel, a friend of her father's who knows Paul Michel. He then decides to move to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to find him, and reads his letters to Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
in the library. He finds out Paul Michel is in Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...
. He arrives there at night and finds accommodation in Romagnat
Romagnat
Romagnat is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-References:*...
. He starts meeting with Paul Michel. Soon enough, they are allowed to spend whole days out in the gardens. Eventually, they manage to winkle a day outside of the premises. Michel gets attacked by a man in a bar and fights back. He then kisses the protagonist. Michel manages to trick the restaurant into believing they are with the town major and thus get off without being reported for the fight. Paul Michel is later granted two months away from the madhouse since the protagonist's visits have improved his condition considerably. The protagonist drives him down to Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, where they stay with an old friend of his, Alain Legras, and his wife. During their stay they finally become lovers when Michel reassures the protagonist he needn't worry about his virtue and the protagonist argues asking if his opinion on the matter doesn't count. While the protagonist wants Michel to start writing again as part of his "recovery" Michel is, like the Germanist predicted, unable to do so because Foucault, his reader, is dead. Michel tells him about his relationship with Michel Foucault and claims that their relationship cannot last, that the protagonist must go on to write his thesis about him. Eventually, Michel gets up one night, takes the car and he kills himself, under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Although it is clear to all it was intentional.
After the funeral, the protagonist returns to England, writes his thesis and becomes the foremost expert on Paul Michel's writing, but fails to expand on the writer's life. His relationship with the Germanist, who flew to France to help him after the accident and got him through the funeral, ends after that, even though they move in similar academic circles.
Characters
- The protagonist. He remains unnamed. He is writing a thesis on Paul Michel.
- Paul Michel, a French writer who won the Prix GoncourtPrix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
and later lives in a madhouse. He dies in GaillacGaillacGaillac is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.-Geography of Gaillac:Gaillac is a town situated between Toulouse, Albi and Monatauban. It has gained a large amount of recognition due to the wines that bear the towns name. The Tarn river runs along the border of the town by the...
. - The Germanist, a postgraduate student. She smokes and lives on her own in a flat she owns in Cambridge. She grew up with two fathers (the Bank of England and Martin) after her mother left home. She is writing her thesis on Schiller but has read everything and has very definite and particular opinions. She's rather harsh with the protagonist, even though they are lovers, and with everybody else except her father, the Bank of England.
- The Germanist's father, a homosexual who works for the Bank of EnglandBank of EnglandThe Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
. He's fond of cooking and has "boys" who also are. - Jacques Martel, a friend of the Germanist's father. He is Paul Michel's guardian and the Bank of England's lover.
- Mme Louet, a B&B hostess in RomagnatRomagnatRomagnat is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-References:*...
. - Dr Pascale Vaury, Paul Michel's doctor in Sainte-Anne in Clermont-FerrandClermont-FerrandClermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...
. - Alain Legras, a friend of Paul Michel's in NiceNiceNice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. His wife is named Marie-France.
Allusions to other works
- Victor HugoVictor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
's Les MisérablesLes MisérablesLes Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
, George EliotGeorge EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
's MiddlemarchMiddlemarchMiddlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes...
, and Christopher SmartChristopher SmartChristopher Smart , also known as "Kit Smart", "Kitty Smart", and "Jack Smart", was an English poet. He was a major contributor to two popular magazines and a friend to influential cultural icons like Samuel Johnson and Henry Fielding. Smart, a high church Anglican, was widely known throughout...
are mentioned. - Music is mentioned with Jean Michel JarreJean Michel JarreJean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
and Beethoven is alluded to by Paul Michel "the greatest of composers heard his music in his nerves". - The painter Hieronymus Bosch is mentioned.
Allusions to actual history
- Gerrard WinstanleyGerrard WinstanleyGerrard Winstanley was an English Protestant religious reformer and political activist during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell...
is briefly alluded to. - The Germanist gives the protagonist an article on Paul Michel taken from Gai PiedGai piedGai pied or Gai pied hebdo was a monthly French gay magazine, founded by Jean Le Bitoux. Its name, which literally means "Gay foot", is a homophone of guêpier, which means a hornet's nest or, figuratively, a trap or pitfall — a reference to the magazine's determination to torment the...
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