Michel Foucault — Representation and Power

It is appropriate at this point to consider the work of Michel Foucault, for in any introduction to history and postmodernism, this author (along with the influence he has exercised) deserves a separate discussion. His impact has been, in this sphere, enormous. He was, even by the late 1970s, among the most cited writers in the humanities, and the attention given to him has certainly not decreased since then. He had the advantage over the other founding fathers of postmodernism that his writing is often, though not by any means always, relatively intelligible, and he purports to deal not only with the technicalities of very obscure philosophical discourse, but with broad historical themes, which he tackles in an energetic and provocative fashion.