Special Issue on Michel Foucault by Theory, Culture and Society Journal

You need to have subscription to this great journal to read the articles but I am sure all major university libraries are subscribed to. At the end there is also roundup on art/intellectual/academic links…

[update: all articles downloadable here]

Introduction: Thinking after Michel Foucault

Couze Venn and Tiziana Terranova

Theory Culture Society 2009;26 1-11
http://tcs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/6/1

Alternatives to the Prison: Dissemination or Decline of Social Control?

Michel Foucault

Theory Culture Society 2009;26 12-24
http://tcs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/6/12

Foucault’s Untimely Struggle: Toward a Form of Spirituality

Paul Rabinow

Theory Culture Society 2009;26 25-44
http://tcs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/6/25

Identity, Nature, Life: Three Biopolitical Deconstructions

Judith Revel

Theory Culture Society 2009;26 45-54
http://tcs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/6/45

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Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. A disappointment

I have finished reading Dan Brown’s last novel, The Lost Symbol, a few days ago. Maybe to be begin with, I must tell you that this is not a novel but a script for a planned blockbuster. Maybe if one takes it as a script, disappointment would be lesser. After the Da Vinci Code, this is a very frustrating one for the fans like me. Some quick notes:
1. Character formations in the novel are extremely weak, shallow. Robert Langdon is a reactionary guy. He first reacts to whatever told him, then he is surprised and accepts. Same pattern throughout the novel.
2. After the Da Vinci Code, Mr. Brown might have decided not to touch culturally and religiously sensitive issues. This book will not bring much reaction from the Church etc.
3. The novel looks likes a “sponsored post” (!). As if funded by freemasonry establishment. I have no problem with freemasonry, just that the novel should have gone beyond mere propaganda.
4. Well, despite all, if the narrative brought about exciting revelations like it did in the previous novel, it would still be satisfactory for me. But I wasn’t particularly excited with turning points in the novel…

News for the bookworms, Nobel and Man Booker winners announced

Mueller, whose mother was sent to a Soviet work camp for five years and who herself was harassed by the Romanian Securitate secret police after refusing to be an informer, made her debut in 1982 with a collection of short stories.

Romanian-born writer wins Nobel literature prize

Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller, who charted the hardships and humiliations of Nicolae Ceausescu’s brutal regime, has won the 2009 Nobel literature prize.

Mueller wins Nobel literary prize

Romanian-born German author Herta Mueller is announced as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Hilary Mantel

Mantel named UK fiction prize winner

Author Hilary Mantel is named this year’s winner of the UK’s Man Booker Prize for her historical novel Wolf Hall.

And some goodies around the web. Enjoy your Friday! I have work to do until the evening departmental meeting:)