While reading the Foucault piece I began to wonder how the "noble" and upper class people fit into this scheme of governing and if they would be included in this treatment. This instantly made me think of a piece by Edgar Allen Poe titled, "The Masque of the red death" published in 1842. In the story, a king brings 1000 "noble" people to a secluded and closed off abbey to seek shelter away from the spread of the plague as it sweeps the land. All the while, these noble people are able to live in comfort and share in the luxurious life of the king. One night during a masquerade party, a person comes dressed up as a victim of the plague, (or so the king thinks), and so since it is a costume party everyone thinks it is a costume, but in reality it is really a person suffering from the plague and all the noble people and the king die rather quickle. I guess it is somewhat random, but this article reminded of this story which I read a while ago, if you like Poe you should check it out sometime.
Comments
Posted by: Anonymous | February 22, 2007 01:51 PM
I was reminded of that too! Did anyone else go to Bare Bones this year? It was based on the Masque of the Red Death. You kinda ruined the surprise of the story, though, yo! It's a lot like this reading though, and it deals with class issues and our socially constructed illusion of safety.
The Foucault also reminded me of the description of Kin-Sai, Constantinople and the ancient cities a bit too, with the water ways mentioned and the social control measures that seemed to be pretty regimented. The way that everything was partitioned brought to mind Abu-Lughod's description of an Islamic city a bit too.
I agree with kate that some of the critics of hotel life were just silly but at the time, they seemed less silly. We are more accepting of a wide variety of lifestyles in our time than people have been in our nations history. This was all going on at the beginining of the breakdown (which I'd say kinda goes back and forth)of the family as the most important social unit.
Posted by: Tavia | February 22, 2007 02:32 PM
yeah. bare bones was pretty darn good last year.
i think it's beautiful that the groth reading reflects foucault's theories of discipline and punishment. Bio-power, is "an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations". (foucault) In Groth's text, biological hygiene is equated with social hygiene. The health reformers were affecting housing laws. And of course, there were stupid-ass critiques of women in hotels, because there bodies could not be controlled by the dominant social order. All in all, I think environmental determinism is sscccccccccaaaaarrrry.
Posted by: chrissi | February 23, 2007 11:13 AM