diacritics a review of contemporary criticism Richard Klein and William B. Warner evewing Clb, HAL Fgh 07: The Hidden S10: Dai, Black Box EAL O07 nd the Superpowers and ‘Syl "RE OD7, A Conspacy of ‘Anthony Appiah reviewing Now. The Deconsracte Tar ays the Tce of Pros S. Pradhan evewing Davin, Inquies ino Th ad terpretaon, and ‘ev ied Ines BC Linda Hutcheon rovewing de Lars. Nice Doesn't: Femam,Semioies, ner, ard Slvr, The Subj of Semis Michel Foucault Barbara Johnson spring 1986 volume 16 number 1 REVIEW ARTERESLS 7 | Ls | Nuclear Coincidence and the Korean Airline Disaster Deconstruction and the Philosophy of Language Minimalist Semantics: Davidson and Dewrida on Meaning, Use and Convention Subject in/offto History and His Story TEXTS/CONTEXTS: (Of Other Spaces ‘Apostrophe, Animation, and Abortionn TEXTS/CONTEXTS OF OTHER SPACES! MICHEL FOUCAULT The great obsession ofthe nineteenth century was, as we know. history swith ts themes of evelopment and of suspension, of crs and cycle, themes of ‘he everaccumolting pas with ts preat preponderance of dead men andthe menacing slacaion ef the word. The nineteenth century found its esential Imythalogal resources inthe second principle of thermodynamics, The present poch wil perhaps be above all the epoch of space. We are in the epoch of SIenultanety. we ae in te epoch of ustapostion, the epoch ofthe near and far ofthe side-by-side, ofthe dispersed. We are at a moment | belive, when ‘ur experience of the world i es that of 2 Tong le developing through time than that of a network that connects points and intersects with &s own skein (One could perhaps say that certain ideological conics animating present-day polemics oppose the prov descendents ote and the determined inhabitants tape. Stuctraism, ora least hat which is grouped under this hgh 100 [general name, isthe efor to establish, between elements that could have been Sepneced ona temporal ans an ensemble of relations that makes hem appeat srowtaposed, set of against one anather, implicated by each other that makes them appear in shor, a8 3 sont of configuration. Actually, srctualism ‘doesnt ental a denial of time: # does involve a certain manner of dealing wth ‘what we call time and wat we call story: "Yetits necessary to noice that the space which today appears form the horizon of our concern, our theory, UT Systems, not an innovation: space isl has a history in Western experience and ti nt possible to disregard the faa intersection of time with space, One could say, by way of retracing this Fisory of space very roughly that the Middle Ages there was a hierarchic temerbe of places sacred places and profane places: protected places and ‘open, exposed places urban places and ral places all these concern the real Heol men. in cosmological theory, there were the supercelesial places. a8 op posed tothe celestial, and the celestial place was nits tum opposed to the te Fesial place. There were places where things had been put because they had ‘been siolentiy displaced, and then on the contrary places where things found their natural ground and stability. was His complete heratchy, this opps tin, this intersection of places that constituted what could very roughly be Called medieval space: the space of emplacement. Ths wx. emi “Dey Eyces Autre” ane publied by the French jours aerate ach 1867 though nt rosewed for pblaton by de author and aoa eae efical corporat fe orks he maracas eased if the pub ‘Boman han eatin sn Bein hay betore Niche Foucault’ death ene ee i neta the few emi te uaiy of ectare ntes Deri wae ttn ete er scunng pec o tana heen and rma hansen ous teal ‘This space of emplacemen wotk lay not 0 much in his d Sun, bu in hs constitution of 3 ofthe Middle Ages turged ou anything buta point ints max Sebel slowed down. In ott fentension war subetted for | Today the site has been ment. The site i defined by re Can deserbe these relations 5 problem in contemporary te termediate resus of calcula ‘ements wth a random out. S telephone line) the enti tandomlycistibuted, or may Ina all more concrete > in terms of demography. Th Knowing whether there il tainly cute imponant= but ab Sorage. creation, aking igven station in oder to ach the form of relations among « Inany case believe that outta great deal more that sigue dstnbutive operations ow, despite all the tec \nowledge that enables us 10 not entvely desancties tap. the sacred inthe nineteenth space the one sgraed by G: the point ofa practial desan tin numberof opposition ot yet dared to break down, ample between pasate space een cultural space and u ‘hse ae still nurmred by th Bachelaed’s monuments usthat we do not ive in a "horoughly imbued with quar ‘ur primary perception. the thermelves quate that eet 2 dark, rough, encumbered Space fom below, of mud: + Space that is fixed. congeae! relection in our time, prnar nal space The space in which we ‘ur lives. our time and our h tel, a heterogeneous spaet which we could place indie Coloted with diverse shades which ate ieee to one (Of course one might at ‘elations by which a pen s {hat define he sites of traniox diacritics spring 1986as, a5 we know, history ‘is and cyte themes of ce of dead men and the tury found is essental “ocynams. The present We ae in the epoch of ‘eepoch ofthe nea and ‘noment. | beleve when Seveloping through time Sects wth as om kein tsanimating presetday ‘determined inhabsaots td under th sigh 00 ‘ris that could have been “That makes them appear ted by each other that ‘Actually, structuralism fhmanner of dealing with ‘day appearsto form the ‘pombe 1 dsesard the by way of retracing ths lex there was a herarchic fe protected places and Sil these concer the rel ‘percelestial places. a8. 0p- ‘Sturm opposed 10 the tes zen put because they had aces where things found te hierarchy, this oppo! 2 could very roughly be ved ty the French owns) (Pets ofa lecture en SUblcaton bythe author and ‘Tos rls it the public to Daarice nent hank ‘This space of emplacement was opened up by Galileo. For the real scandal of Galileo's woth fy not so much in his discovery, of redscovery, hat the earth revolved around the Sn butin his constitution of a infinite, and inintely Open space. In sucha space the place ofthe Midate Ages tured out to be dasolved, as t were; a things place was no longer “hything but» points movement, usta the tabi of thing was only is movement in “tntely slowed down. tn other words, stating wth Galileo and the seventeenth century, fentenson was substituted fr localization “Today the site hasbeen subsitued fr extension wich isl had replaced emplace- meat The site deiined by relations of proxaty eaween points or elements formally, we Can describe these relations as seties,tees, oF gds. Moreover, the importance ofthe ste 35 ‘Sroblem in contemporary technical work wel krown: the storage of data o* ofthe in ecmediote resus of 2 calculation inthe memory ofa machine the circulation of escrete ‘Semen in a random output (automobile atic sa imple case, or indeed the sounds on Setephone line: the tentteation of marked oc coded elements inside a set that may be ‘andomlycistibuted. or may be atrangee according to single or to multiple classifications in il more concrete manner, the problem of sting or placement arses for mankind interns of demography. This problem ofthe human stor living space not simpy that of| rowing whether there wll be encugh space for men inthe word ~a problem that is er {any quite important but also that of knowing shat lations of propinguiy, what ype of torage, circulation. marking. and clsieaton of human elements should be adopted in 3 {fven sation inorder to achieve 3 gen end. Out epoch sone in which space takes for us the form of relations among sts. Tian case believe that the aniety of our er as todo fundamentally with pace, no stoubt a root deal more than with time. Time probably appeas 1 us only as one ofthe nous eibutve operations that are posible lor the elements that ae spread out im space Now, despite al the techniaues for appropriating space, despite the whole network of Lnowiedge that enable us to delimit orto formalize, contemporary space i perhaps sill ot entirely desanctied apparently unlike time, t would Seem, which was detached from the saced in the nineteenth centr. To be sure 3 certain theoretical desanctfcation of “pace the one signaled by Galileo's work) has occured, but we may sil not have reached ‘Pe goin ota pracial desanetfication of space. And pethaps our ites sill governed by 2 ‘ertin number of ppostions that remain avolable. that ou institutions and practices have tot yet dared to break down. These are oppositions that we regard as simple givens forex Impl benween private space and pub space, beween family space and social space, be ‘een cultural space and useul space, between the space of lesure and that of work. Al thse ave stil nurtured by the Kideden presence ofthe sacred fachelad's monumental work andthe descriptions of phenomenologiss have taught that we donot lve sna homogeneous and empty space, but on the contrary in a space ‘horoughiynibued with quantities and perhaps thoroughly antasmaticas wel. The space of ti primary perception, the space of our dreams and that of our passions hold within themselves aaliis that seer intinsc: there alight ethereal, transparent space, o gai dark, rough, encumbered space; a space fom above, of sumimis, of onthe contrary 3 “pace irom below, of mud: or again 2 space that can be flowing ike sparkling wate. of 3 “Jc thats ied, congealed, ke stone or ental Yet these analyses, whl fundamental for ‘lion in our time, primarily concer internal ace. should like to speak now of exter ral space “The space in which we ive, which draws us ou of ourselves, in which the erosion of ‘our lives. out ime and our history occurs the space that claws and knaws at us is ao, in ‘hell heterogeneous space. In other words, we do not live in a kind of void, inside of tviich we could pace individuals and things. We do not ive inside avoid that could be “olred with diverse shades of light, we Ive inside a st of relations that delineates sites ‘which ae reducible to one another and absolutely not superimposable on one another. ‘Or course one might attempt to describe these diferent sites by looking forthe set of ‘etatons by which a gen site can be defined. For example, describing the st of relations ‘hat define the stes of transportation, streets, ans (trai an extraordinary bundle of rela Aiacrites spring 1986