Patricia Duncker's HALLUCINATING FOUCAULT explores the relationship between scholar and subject matter, reader and writer, mentor and protégé - and the madness that connects them all. The narrator is a male graduate student at Cambridge studying the novels of (fictitious) French "wild boy" Paul Michel and his enigmatic literary relationship to the philosopher Foucault. When the narrator's girlfriend pushes him to locate the institutionalized Paul Michel, he begins to unravel the mystery of his subject with a growing and inescapable obsession.

The psychological twists of this novel are astoundingly powerful. Duncker writes with a delicate authority that never loses it momentum. Her characterizations are deft, and, in the case of Paul Michel, delightfully cryptic. She melds the substance of philosophy and scholarship with a moving love story that transcends both gender and sanity. To her credit, Duncker never overburdens her story with her themes but instead allows the story itself to carry their weight.

I highly recommend this novel for readers of literary fiction. You don't need to know anything about Foucault or scholarship to appreciate Duncker's exploration of madness, love, and the written word.

Many novels can hold a reader but very few, the great rare ones, can keep the reader enthralled, fascinated, and eager for every succeeding page. This is one of those rare, beautiful works that restores faith in the power of the novel, the subtle, beguiling beauty of fiction, and confidence that amid the trash being published, there are wonderful, creative new writers. While Michel Foucault, the great French writer and philosopher, is in the title of this book, it is more about the person reading it than about anyone else. Duncker explains the relationship between the writer and the reader so clearly that she also expresses it through her own creative relationship with the person who is reading her work. Hallucinating Foucault shows how a novel can be written simply and clearly while being deeply felt, philosophical, and astounding all at the same time. A wonderful, gorgeous, meaningful book that lingers in the memory long after the final page is turned and the last pieces of the puzzle- and the puzzle here is much more intriguing than those in most of other novels that rely on puzzles- are fit perfectly in place. The title may be somewhat intimidating but from the very first page, Duncker wraps the Reader in prose that makes her book almost impossible to put down.

I sat down to read _Hallucinating Foucault_ one sleepy evening and became to engrossed I could not stop reading until I finished a couple energizing hours later. Duncker makes my brain work. She brilliantly brings forth the human side of late twentieth century post-structural philosophy and post-modern literature, binding the reader into a love triangle that's both solid and ethereal. What does the reader bring to the text? What sort of relationship does the reader have with the writer? What happens if the reader really does go to seek the author--who isn't dead after all--and blends his intellectual dream with "reality"? As a doctoral student, my favorite thing about this book is that the plot has the best possible happy ending--the protag. finishes his diss. and gets a job!! This is better than Byatt's _Possession_ and up there with Winterson's _The Passion_ for me.

This book of short stories is wonderfully written, most enjoyable and more accessable than the previous Hallucinating Foucault. An extra bonus is that one of the most delightful stories has been expanded into her next novel, The Doctor. A very promising author.

There is a strange emptiness at the heart of this book. Duncker faithfully chronicles Barry's long career and the fates of various family members and friends (some based on historical records, some invented) yet the inner lives of the characters remain a mystery. They seem to represent sets of predetermined personality traits or beliefs rather than three-dimensional human beings. And strangely, while the transgendered Barry is the central character of the novel, we never get a sense of how Barry experienced his gender identity, his body, or his sexuality. Instead, we are told that Barry lived his life as a man solely because his family thought it was the best option for him. We don't even really get beneath the surface of any conflicts or emotional issues that "crossing" might have involved. Surrounded by characters whose enlightened views about gender, feminism, and class seem unbelievable and anachronistic, Barry remains a cipher. The descriptions of nineteenth century medical developments and British colonial life are engaging. But if you are looking for a queer or transgendered perspective on this intriguing figure, or a transporting literary experience, you won't find it here.

Ok, it only gets 3 stars, but that is largely because this book does not deliver like 'Hallucinating Foucault'...however, this remains a compelling read, a wide-ranging story well told, especially the descriptive passages - what it lacks is the sense that the author is fully "engaged", almost as if she herself had doubts about book and it's purpose halfway through the writing of it. Set that feeling aside, though, and this will be one of your better reads this year!

A historical novel which sends the reader off in other directions to find even more information about the characters is well worth reading - and such is the case with Duncker's latest effort. James Miranda Barry is certainly one of the more curious figures of mid-19th century English life, and discovering why "he" became what he became makes for a very enjoyable read. The supporting characters (some actual persons, others creations of the author) are well-drawn and add further color to the story of the enigmatic doctor. The author does a fine job in presenting the contradictions and confinements under which women lived during this time as well as presenting the issue of slavery as an institution which bound more than those who were officially enslaved. I would recommend this book to any who are taken up by well-written historical novels with unusual twists.