Foucault's writings offer possible new histories of the subjects (mental illness, sexuality, discourses) that he tackled; they are also imaginative and undisciplined texts. In this module we read a selection of Foucault's major works, in translation, and consider some of the arguments they have provoked in literature, history and related modern disciplines. We will read some of Foucault's central texts until reading week; the second part of the module will open up more thematic and critical issues, such as the engagement of Foucault's work with that of Nietzsche, Derrida, Said and others.