| Summary: | This study examines the coherence the Foucauldlan
archaeology as a method of discursive analysis and
scrutinizes the possibilities it holds for a materialist
literary history. The analysis of Foucault's archaeologies
of the asylum, the clinic and the human sciences traces the
manner in which the archaeology dissociates its e lf from
the domains of Marxism and structuralism, and establishes
its specific domain of operation. The conceptual apparatus
constructed within that domain is scrutinised for coherence
and the criticisms and misconceptions of the archaeology
are discussed. The existing domain of literary history is
analyze and found to be in a state of crisis due to the
epistemological weaknesses of empiricism and historicism
that are uncovered at the level of the problematic. Foucault's
concepts of a general history and of knowledge (savoir) are
analyzed and found to be wrought in resistance to these weaknesses.
Lastly, the study proposes directions for the
historical analysis of literary texts through the application
of the archaeology, specifically the concepts of the statement
the discursive formation and the episteme, to two literary
texts showing the changes in the function of language between
these texts and the epistemic configurations within which they
participate.
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