ABSTRACT
This chapter examines in detail Michel Foucault's representation of silence and confessional practices in La Volonte de savoir. It assesses the significance of La Volonte de savoir's own silences, and analyses Foucault's representation of the relationship between silence and discourse. Foucault's choice of language has the effect of implying that 'aveu"s old meanings were preferable to its new ones. Foucault tells the story of a man unable to conform to the expectations of narrative procedure. This means that the partisan would be unlikely ever to be allowed to tell his own version of what happened by the upholders of discursive authority. At various points in La Volonte de savoir, Foucault attempts to give voice to areas that have been silenced. At others, silence reinforces his own arguments. Both approaches are to be found in his representation of the history of confession.
