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3.89 of 5 stars
What does it mean to write "This is not a pipe" across a bluntly literal painting of a pipe? Rene Magritte's famous canvas provides the starting po... read full description

reviews

Apr 25, 2011
Ahmad rated it: 4 of 5 stars
فوکو معتقد است دو چیز هنگامی ناسازگارند که پیوندشان با یکدیگر نامتناسب و رمزآلود باشد. او شیفتهء چیزی بود که خود آن را درهمستان نامیده؛ در این درهمستان وضعیت به گونه­ای است که در واقع چیزها هیچ پیوندی با یکدیگر ندارند، زیربنایی وجود ندارد که بتواند بین آن چیزها با یکدیگر حتی به صورت نامتناسبی، تناسب برقرار کند، آن چیزها فقط در کنار هم قرار گرفته­اند. فوکو و مگریت در دهمستان به سنجش زبان می­پردازند، فوکو از دیدگاهی تاریخی و مگریت از دیدگاهی تصویری.

یک واژه، به راستی، همان چیزی است که More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Gabriel rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This book was quiet interesting. When looking at Rene Magritte's Painting of a pipe and underneath this painting in neat script is written "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" which is french for "This is not a Pipe." You begin to wonder what this means. It may just be surrealistic art but Michel Foucault really shows us his deep thoughts about this painting and its meaning. If you were to see this people might just say that it is nonsensical, i too thought this, yet now i think differe More...
Dec 31, 2011
Erin rated it: 3 of 5 stars
For a short little book on a fascinating set of paintings mostly by Magritte, this is pretty good and has very carefully been translated with many useful endnotes. My major complaints are that the wonderful paintings graciously provided as plates in the back of the book are in black and white instead of color (oh picky me) and that the endnotes were much more difficult to access than footnotes would have been. I generally read while marking three places in the book with my fingers as I needed t More...
Sep 25, 2010
Gary rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Foucault is a difficult read. His concepts and language require much of the reader, making re-readings and multiple contemplations frequent requirements. So why is he so intent to make us read so much of it unnecessarily? That’s not to say that This is Not a Pipe is not worthwhile. On the contrary, its reconsideration of the meaning of representation and originals is both thought-provoking and whimsical (in the best meaning of that word). However, the book (shall we say “long essay”?) is needles More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Feb 12, 2012
Joseph added it
i don't know what to say about this save it might make a fair counter-part to other more complex/colossal foucault books. this one is light-hearted, long-winded, obsessively charming, and particularly slim. i could really care less for magritte, tho his collected paintings and set of letters to foucault in the back are good. nothing to read straight through. dash through a short essay or two on the fly whilst hammering through foucault's studies on the prison-system, the history of sexuality, th More...
Dec 05, 2010
Jasmine rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Foucault and myself have a generally strained relationship. I'm not exactly sure why. I think that it may have to do with some extremely graphic descriptions of torture. The book did not have any such descriptions making it seem to be getting off on a much better foot. That is until it just starts getting off on itself. Being that Foucault is not one of the philosophers whom I constantly stand in the same position with, I do unfairly require more work from him in an essay than I may from Hitchen More...
Nov 07, 2011
Sezen rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Yapıkredi Yayınları'ndan çıkan çevirisinde analiz edilen bazı tabloların küçük (ya da mümkünse büyük) resimlerinin de olması gerekirdi. Eğer kitabı okurken bu tabloları görme imkanınız yoksa açıklamaların çoğu oldukça soyut ve havada kalabiliyor. Başka basımlarında resimler varsa (ben sadece YKY'ninkini biliyorum) mutlaka resimli versiyonu tercih edilmeli.
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Apr 25, 2011
Lauren rated it: 1 of 5 stars
This book is way over my head. I do understand bits of it by I feel like I am not artsy or abstract enough to really grasp any of the concepts. I read it for a challenge I am participating in here on GR but I didn't get much out of it.
Jan 31, 2012
Tyler marked it as to-read
I started reading this yesterday, and, having read about a third through, found myself bored. I might pick it up again sometime later.
May 19, 2009
Julie H. rated it: 4 of 5 stars
A really great little set of essays. These are quite accessible, and a wonderful reference to have under your belt.
Apr 14, 2011
khers rated it: 2 of 5 stars
این یک چپق نیست / میشل فوکو / ترجمه مانی حقیقی / نشر مرکز
Dec 02, 2008
Jennifer rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Terrific concept of how we view the world.
Nov 04, 2007
Subarashi rated it: 4 of 5 stars
ever wanted to know why magritte's pipe isn't? this is foucault's explanation, an interesting depiction of the unspokeness of representation as decoded and emphasized in margritte's paintings. this is a brief investigation into the infinite space between words and images. reminded me of a comic book artist friend - who told me that the most important part of a comic illustration was the space (the gutter?) between two panels. this is where the mind must create the undepicted connection that link More...
Sep 20, 2009
Patrick rated it: 3 of 5 stars
A gem; reminiscent of Deleuze.
Apr 08, 2009
Banu rated it: 5 of 5 stars
fabuleux!
Mar 16, 2008
Tosh rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Foucault to my knowledge, only wrote two books on aesthetics - one on Raymond Roussel and the other on the painter Margritte. And this is a superb study on his paintings and how he plays with the image and what that image means to Foucault. The fascinating aspect of this mash-up is Foucault is not really a literary or art critic - so his take on the art is totally unique and uber-interesting.
Oct 04, 2007
Kaveh rated it: 4 of 5 stars
اين يک چپق نيست عنوان تابلويي از رنه مگريت است. فوکو با تکيه از نقاشي بي نظير اين يک چپق نيست به نقد زبانشناسانه ي مدرني مي پردازد که بي نظير است . کتاب کوتاهي اما بسيار فني و پيچيده است
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Nov 23, 2010
Michael rated it: 4 of 5 stars
A nice little essay by Foucault. It's not groundbreaking or anything, but Foucault always provides an interesting analysis of the subjects he brings up.
May 21, 2011
Jack rated it: 3 of 5 stars
took me two weeks to get through this 52 pager. foucault's prose is dense, and his logic is often frustrating and circular. still, there are some fascinating ideas here about "the verbal" and "the visual" in art, discourse, and everyday life.
Feb 06, 2008
Christine rated it: 2 of 5 stars
not written by a painter not about painting rather a description on how M's painting might have inspired some word play in Foucault's brain all in all disappointing.
Oct 15, 2007
johanna rated it: 5 of 5 stars
grand illustration of foucault's ludic-ish directions that don't exactly shine through in his other works .. i've begun reading it again having just reached the end!
May 30, 2007
Hamad rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Having no background in art (or philosophy) this can be a daunting book to read, but I will return to it again once I have read more in art theory and Foucaultian philosophy.
Sep 27, 2011
Paula rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Beautiful analysis of Magritte's work and vision. Needless to say how Foucault's interpretation is awesome, as usual. Too succint, maybe!
Jul 17, 2010
Sps rated it: 4 of 5 stars
There was a summer where I read a lot of M.F. and this was probably the best of the bunch. Not least for yielding the word/idea 'calligram.'
Aug 02, 2011
Susan rated it: 2 of 5 stars
I think I need the For Dummies version. Maybe once I'm better versed in PoMo lingo this dense prose will open up for me.
Jul 06, 2008
Jordan rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Really excellent. Anything by Foucault, though complex and technically difficult, is worth reading.
Apr 10, 2008
Gregory's Lament rated it: 2 of 5 stars
I don't remember this too well. If I recall, is was a lot of semantics, and po-mo linguistics-ness.
Oct 23, 2011
Andeemars rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Amazing, bitch.
Jan 27, 2008
Tami Lynn rated it: 4 of 5 stars
i'm pretty sure this was written for nicole and i. and i'm definitely sure it was awesome.
Sep 30, 2007
Patrick rated it: 5 of 5 stars
flurging excellent book. can't praise it enough. without sounding obsequious