2024-04-22 02:33:02
“There is criticism to which one responds, other criticism to which one replies. Wrongly perhaps. Why not lend an equally attentive ear to incomprehension triviality, ignorance, or bad faith? Why reject these as so many incidents, regrettable for family honor? Is one correct in believing them inessential to the activity of criticism? I wonder if there is not an unfortunate defense reaction involved here: one is afraid, of course, of acknowledging that these criticisms reach and concern the book which they abuse; one is afraid of acknowledging that the book has, in a certain manner, formed and nourished them; but above all else, one is afraid of recognizing that they are nothing else, perhaps, than a certain critical grid, a certain manner of coding and transcribing a book, a singularly systematic transformation. The impostures within the critical space are like monsters within the realm of living: nevertheless coherent possibilities.” (1971: 57).
In 1971, Michel Foucault wrote a short polemic, titled “Monstrosities in Criticism”, that fervently took issue with two reviews of his books Madness and Civilization and The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Foucault opened this incisive piece with the trenchant paragraph above. Foucault, as I see it, implies that there is informed and constructive criticism that merits a thoughtful and attentive response, and there is vain, null and dull criticism that deforms and distorts the original text and therefore deserves nothing more than a dismissive reply or even disregard. He then discusses what a deficient and failed review constitutes — alteration of the text, decoupage or quotation out of context, interpolation, and omission; based on the ignorance of the book, the ignorance of the topic, and the ignorance of the facts and texts to which a reviewer objects. These are certainly insightful points. Find the article here (open access).
Just one more thing, to conclude: being the object of Foucault’s criticism also disciplines and punishes…
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