I have been re-reading Foucault recently, in English translation.  My French is not up to reading the original – sadly… oh if only I’d paid more attention in school! (Perhaps I should add that my school French teacher had a great talent for putting almost everyone off learning anything, so perhaps I can just blame her?!  I can get by reading French if I need to, but complex texts of any great length are problematic.)  In any case, I am sure I’m not alone in finding some of Foucault’s work difficult in terms of language, and so I was interested to see a tweet this morning from Teemu Taira linking to a fascinating article analysing problems with the the translation of Discipline and Punish, and arguing for a new translation to be undertaken: Beyond Discipline and Punish: Is it time for a new translation of Foucault’s Surveiller et punir?