The book I cite is The Order of Things (Foucault, 1970), wherein Foucault elaborates upon the instability of knowledge within his discourse. Take, for instance, the example cited in the Preface of Borges’ description of ‘a certain Chinese Encyclopaedia,’ the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. Employing taxonomy, it classifies animals as: (a) belonging to the Emperor…… (n) those that from a distance resemble flies’ (Borges, 1999, p. 231). Within this taxonomic framework, both genuinely existing animals and purely imaginary entities coexist.
Foucault observes that the true grotesque quality in Borges’ enumeration lies not merely in the absurd juxtaposition of entries, but in the emptying of the shared ‘site’ that bears their juxtaposition: those creatures ‘(i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush’ can only meet within the lines of the page. That is to say, they can only be juxtaposed within language’s ‘non-place’.
Language can indeed enumerate them, but only within an unthinkable space. The self-referential catalogue entry (h) included in the present classification exposes the paradox inherent in this Category: if all animals can be classified within this table, then the table itself must be classified within itself. Where, then, does it exist? This method of classification enumerates these peculiar categories in a ‘catalogue-like’ form, evoking an arbitrary yet omnipresent framework of knowledge that renders all animals as existing within this classification. This approach blurs the boundaries of cataloguing, dissolving the spatial foundation that underpins the juxtaposition of entities. Within this context, the alphabetical sequence (a)……(n) becomes the sole visible clue, exposing the arbitrariness of this order and rendering the enumeration’s collective coherence untenable.
Thus, employing the cataloguing method of Inventory, I designed a list that ‘translates’ the original text into a set of ‘methodological terms’. Using the original’s cataloguing approach, I map the characteristics and limitations of writing as a creative mode. Establishing a visible order facilitates retrieval and comparison, fabricating an ‘orderly fact’ valid solely within the textual space. This response to Foucault’s assertion in the preface: order is written into being.
Reference:
Foucault, M. (1970) The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Translated by A. Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications.
Borges, J. L. (1999) Selected Non-Fictions. Edited by E. Weinberger. Translated by E. Allen, S. J. Levine & E. Weinberger. London: Penguin Books.
Leave a Reply