Historical dream account · English · machine translation
The inspector, the umbrella, and the matches
Marcel Foucault
Le rêve : études et observations (1906) · Original 1906 edition, observation I, printed pp. 36, 37; PDF pages 54, 55
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Several series of images pass through my mind.
1. Here is the longest and least incoherent: I accompany a primary-school inspector (M. M..., whom I knew in previous years in another town) to visit a schoolteacher who has never been inspected, runs an important school, and has influential political protectors. M. M... reproaches him and tells me that he knows nothing and relies solely upon his political supporters. I see the teacher very clearly: an old man, or almost so, with a carefully trimmed white beard, a small, narrow face, etc. (He does not resemble anyone I know.) I say a few insignificant words. The conversation between M. M... and the teacher grows bitter.
2. It is pouring with rain. I have forgotten to leave for the lycée at the proper time; I am going to be late. (In fact, it is raining at this moment.) I look for my umbrella; it is broken. Then I realize that the umbrella I have just taken, which is broken, is not mine. I find myself in the street, hurrying toward the lycée beneath an avenue of trees unfamiliar to me: it is almost night.
3. I hurry through a festive crowd, or perhaps it is a market. On both sides are open-air shops or shops beneath tents, and makeshift stalls. Dust. Sunshine. Cafés on the right-hand side. A very vague resemblance to the south quay at Mâcon on market days. A peddler offers me matches at 20 centimes a box, Swedish matches. I answer that it is too expensive and continue on my way.
Read the original French account
L’inspecteur, le parapluie et les allumettes
Plusieurs séries d'images passent dans mon esprit.
1° Voici la plus longue et la moins incohérente : J'accompagne un inspecteur primaire (M. M..., que j'ai connu les années précédentes dans une autre ville), chez un instituteur qui n'a jamais été inspecté, dirige une école importante, a des protections politiques influentes. M. M... lui fait des reproches, me déclare qu'il ne sait rien et qu'il compte uniquement sur ses appuis politiques. Je vois l'instituteur très nettement, un vieillard, ou presque, barbe blanche taillée soigneusement, petite figure étroite, etc. (Il ne ressemble à aucune personne que je connaisse.) Je dis quelques paroles insignifiantes. La conversation devient aigre entre M. M... et l'instituteur.
2° Il pleut à torrents. J'ai oublié de partir pour le lycée à l'heure convenable, je vais être en retard. (En fait, il pleut à ce moment.) Je cherche mon parapluie, il est détraqué. Puis je m'aperçois que le parapluie que je viens de prendre et qui est détraqué n'est pas le mien. Je me retrouve dans la rue, marchant en hâte vers le lycée sous une avenue d'arbres qui m'est inconnue : il fait presque nuit.
3° Je circule hâtivement au milieu d'une foule en fête, ou bien c'est dans un marché. Des deux côtés, des boutiques en plein vent ou sous des tentes, et des baraquements. De la poussière. Du soleil. Des cafés du côté droit. Très vague ressemblance avec le quai Sud à Mâcon, les jours de marché. Un camelot m'offre des allumettes à 20 centimes la boîte, des suédoises. Je réponds que c'est trop cher, et je continue ma marche.
Source & context
English machine translation. The original account, source credit and publication terms remain available.
Marcel Foucault presents this as one personal notebook report headed 8 May 1895, noted immediately after an abrupt awakening. The hour is not recorded. He says that, when transcribing the older notebook, he changed a few incorrect expressions. The three discontinuous scenes form one account; his later discussion does not establish their chronological order.
Marcel Foucault, recorded in Marcel Foucault, Le rêve : études et observations (Paris: Félix Alcan, 1906), observation I. The book author/recorder and dreamer are credited separately. French editorial title and navigation themes added; no generated dream prose or modern translation.
Marcel Foucault presents this as one personal notebook report headed 8 May 1895, noted immediately after an abrupt awakening. The hour is not recorded. He says that, when transcribing the older notebook, he changed a few incorrect expressions. The three discontinuous scenes form one account; his later discussion does not establish their chronological order.
Public domain in the United States (1906 edition) ↗
The original French 1906 edition is public domain in the United States by expired publication term; Archive metadata reports NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT for copyright-region US. The NoC-US statement describes this US-only basis, not a new Archive or Google license and not blanket worldwide clearance. No modern translation is used. Marcel Foucault is the printed author and the dreamer of this account; his 1865–1947 dates also support expiry in ordinary life-plus 70 territories from 2018, without asserting every territorial rule. The acquired Google-derived scan includes a noncommercial-use request for the files and attribution/watermark instructions. This account uses underlying expired text; it does not license or republish the scan files or remove their watermarks.
Source locator and text provenance
Original 1906 edition, observation I, printed pp. 36, 37; PDF pages 54, 55
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
French descriptive editorial title and navigation themes only. Complete bounded source narrative retained with internal parentheses and dialogue. Running-page/scanning furniture and the outer quotation marker are excluded from the transcription, not erased from source files. Original line wraps are reflowed, source lexical hyphens retained, and only scan-confirmed OCR repairs are made. The complete reversible raw/final ledger is pinned separately. No generated narrative, new translation or added dream episode.
- Account text SHA-256
- ebda3d7f62e706a1faa4fe10d0e0ba027dcbea9cec1b5f5d32ffb12f643a8004
- Source file SHA-256
- 3038f6fa4ca96a887e3a181b4e7b24178911a3ebf2da282e5c644bb9589c8dd2
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.