History of Shit: Contemporary French Thought and Culture Translation Series

Author: (French) Laporte, translated by Zhou Mang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: The French title of Histoire de merde includes the word "Introduction," and indeed, this small book only provides a framework, leaving one to anticipate more detailed analysis. However, Laporte did not have the time, as he died in 1984 at the young age of 35. In academic terms, Laporte belongs to the generation of the May 1968 movement, younger than figures like Foucault, with a primary profession in psychoanalysis. As a thinker who matured in the 1970s, his critique of power has always been a focus, equally reflected in his co-authored work National French: Policies and Practices of the Language of the National Assembly during the French Revolution. Between excrement and power, Freud serves as an intermediary. In Freudian theory, the formation of the human subject is closely tied to one's relationship with the body and excrement. Meanwhile, the subject is also the subject of power discourse—the French word "sujet" carries both the meaning of "subject" and "subordinate," so the subject in state discourse is also the state's citizen. Like Foucault, Laporte's critique targets power discourse. The phrase "born between excrement" is a recurring sentence in Laporte's book. The lower body concentrates the human reproductive and excretory organs, and their relationship is complex. The first three stages of infantile sexuality—oral stage (oral phase), anal stage (anal phase), and phallic stage (genital phase)—belong to the stage of autoerotic satisfaction. Afterward, one enters the Oedipus complex stage, where sexual desire shifts toward external objects. During the anal stage, excrement detaches from the body but is still considered part of it. Infants play with feces without perceiving its odor. To find feces disgusting and develop aversion toward it marks the formation of the subject. If one remains narcissistic at the anal stage, it may lead to what is known as an "anal personality," characterized by a fascination with excrement. Laporte frequently mentions the sadistic Marquis de Sade, whose name is the root of the word "sadism," and whose novels exhibit tendencies toward coprophilia, urophilia, and flatulence. Similarly, while both engage in eating feces, Sainte Marie de Sainte-Alexis, who tasted patients' excrement, was revered. Laporte，is a sufficiently sharp maneuver. He intends to bypass what is called great civilization and stir up the sewers of civilization.
Focusing on power and discourse, Laporte finds a starting point in France in 1539. King Francis I issued the Villers-Cotterêts edict, which mandated French to replace Latin as the language of national administration and official documents. That same autumn, the king ordered the relocation of livestock within Paris and required households to build latrines and properly dispose of waste, sewage, and excrement. National language policy and national sanitation policy were established simultaneously, but Laporte focuses on the state discourse that followed. France's earliest sanitation policy required households to clean their doorsteps, pile waste at the base of walls, and each household had to have its own latrine. A process was initiated, gradually pushing excrement into the private sphere. Linguistically, a movement to purify language also began. The state, as public power, became the embodiment of purity. Emperor Vespasian taxed urine, but his son Titus objected. The emperor took the tax money and had Titus smell it, asking if it smelled. Titus replied that it did not, but admitted its origin. Once money entered the state treasury, it was purified of its copper stench. Re-establishing a connection between power and excrement is the central theme of this book. Laporte playfully claims that the essence of the glorious Roman civilization lies in its sewers, citing Bloom's insight from Ulysses that civilization follows where the toilet goes. Excrement, once pushed into the private sphere, is further individualized, belonging to its owner—a process corresponding to the individual consciousness of modern society. Similarly, funeral practices transitioned from communal burials to individual graves. For Laporte, excrement and corpses are both flesh of death, and their individualization is part of the same process. Figures like Sade, who are perverse, are fascinated by death on the other side of their fascination with excrement. They can present excrement as a treasure to give to others or view their loved ones as feces or dead bodies, torturing them.
Laporte's mockery is merciless. Another example he cites is the medieval theological debate over the "theory of the Eucharist digesting into excrement." In Christianity, the Eucharist ritual uses bread and wine to represent Christ's flesh and blood. Thus, what the Eucharist transforms into after digestion becomes a major issue. Those who believed the Eucharist digested into excrement cited Matthew 15:17, "Do you not know that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and out into the latrine," arguing that if Christ's body and blood became real in bread and wine, and if this reality was consumed by the communicant, Christ's flesh and blood should undergo the same transformation as the body. Laporte's humor often relies on implication, sometimes excessively relying on puns. For instance, he criticizes the state for depriving the individual using the promise of "distribution according to need," easily shifting from the French word "besoin" (need) to its double meaning of "defecation" or "relief."
In fact, "merde" in the title of this book translates to "shit," which means not only excrement but also a curse, equivalent to "damn it" or "fuck." According to Laporte's view of Roman civilization, civilization is nothing but foul shit. So, this book discusses the history of civilization and power discourse, and its title implies "The History of Foul Shit."
In Histoire de merde, there is a wealth of cultural context, making the humor somewhat challenging to digest. Dongguozi asked Zhuangzi where the Dao was, and Zhuangzi replied that it was everywhere, even in ants, grasses, earthenware, and excrement (from Zhuangzi: Chapter 22, Know North). For Dominique Laporte, what is everywhere is power, and excrement is the key to dissecting it. Perhaps we can imitate Zhuangzi and say, "Power lies in excrement."