{"product_id":"disorderly-families-arlette-farge-9781517912789","title":"Disorderly Families: Infamous Letters from the Bastille Archives","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first English translation of letters of arrest from eighteenth century France held in the archives of the Bastille\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drunken and debauched husbands; libertine wives; vagabonding children. These and many more are the subjects of requests for confinement written to the king of France in the eighteenth century. These letters of arrest (\u003ci\u003elettres de cachet\u003c\/i\u003e) from France's Ancien R馮ime were often associated with excessive royal power and seen as a way for the king to imprison political opponents. In \u003ci\u003eDisorderly Families\u003c\/i\u003e, first published in French in 1982, Arlette Farge and Michel Foucault collect ninety-four letters from ordinary families who, with the help of hired scribes, submitted complaints to the king to intervene and resolve their family disputes. \u003cp\u003eGathered together, these letters show something other than the exercise of arbitrary royal power, and offer unusual insight into the infamies of daily life. From these letters come stories of divorce and marital conflict, sexual waywardness, reckless extravagance, and abandonment. The letters evoke a fluid social space in which life in the home and on the street was regulated by the rhythms of relations between husbands and wives, or parents and children. Most impressively, these letters outline how ordinary people seized the mechanisms of power to address the king and make demands in the name of an emerging civil order. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArlette Farge and Michel Foucault were fascinated by the letters' explosive qualities and by how they both illustrated and intervened in the workings of power and governmentality. \u003ci\u003eDisorderly Families \u003c\/i\u003esheds light on Foucault's conception of political agency and his commitment to theorizing how ordinary lives come to be touched by power. This first English translation is complete with an introduction from the book's editor, Nancy Luxon, as well as notes that contextualize the original 1982 publication and eighteenth-century policing practices. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Arlette Farge, Michel Foucault\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1517912784\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781517912789\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Minnesota Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/21\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.50w x 1.10d","brand":"Arlette Farge","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43993052053759,"sku":"9781517912789","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_b9c47d53-772b-4ab3-afe1-59c63b1b6580.jpg?v=1683322257","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/disorderly-families-arlette-farge-9781517912789","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}