348 Epilogueflicts. They do not manifest the successive forms of a primordial inten-
tion, and their attraction is not that of a conclusion, for they always
appear through the singular randomness of events" (Foucault,
"Nietzsche" 88). This idea was quite liberating for Foucault It was no
longer necessary to be led astray by the phantasm of a great order to
which we feel compelled to conform because the order of things is
expressed through it. Who is doing the expressing, and who is doing the
ordering? Posing these questions, Foucault separated the doer from the
deed, the author from his work, and the contingent swarm of power in
all of its manifestations from so-called history.
In Daybreak, Nietzsche had written that mankind's passion for knowl-
edge might lead man to perish under the strain of too much self-illumi-
nation. Instead of going down in "fire and light," we might prefer to sink
"in the sand" (3,265; D § 429). Foucault returned to this image in the
famous closing passage of The Order of Things. He explained that, at one
point in the past, a particular type of the will to truth focused on man.
For some time now, this quest for knowledge about man had been fruit-
ful, but it might be nearing an end. Quite possibly a new turn of events
was imminent, in which case it would be likely "that man would be
erased like a face drawn in sand at the edge of the sea" (Foucault, Order
of Things 387).
In his final creative phase, Foucault turned to what we might call
"strategies of power on one's own body." This, too, is a Nietzschean
project, centered on regaining the art of living. In lieu of analyzing the
conditions under which the subject would be dissolved, Foucault probed
the arena of sovereignty in the last volumes of The History of Sexuality.
He cited the wisdom of antiquity, but also took another look at
Nietzsche, who had written: "You should become the master of your-
self and also the master of your own virtues. Previously, they were your
masters, but they must be nothing more than your tools, just some tools
among others. You should achieve power over your pros and cons"
(2,20; HHl Preface § 6). There were many twists and turns in the life of