Roland Barthes Libri

Completed just weeks before his death, the lectures in this volume mark a critical juncture in the career of Roland Barthes, in which he declared the intention, deeply felt, to write a novel. Unfolding over the course of two years, Barthes engaged in a unique pedagogical experiment: he combined teaching and writing to "simulate" the trial of novel-writing, exploring every step of the creative process along the way. Barthes's lectures move from the desire to write to the actual decision making, planning, and material act of producing a novel. He meets the difficulty of transitioning from short, concise notations (exemplified by his favorite literary form, haiku) to longer, uninterrupted flows of narrative, and he encounters a number of setbacks. Barthes takes solace in a diverse group of writers, including Dante, whose La Vita Nuova was similarly inspired by the death of a loved one, and he turns to classical philosophy, Taoism, and the works of François-René Chateaubriand, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Kafka, and Marcel Proust. This book uniquely includes eight elliptical plans for Barthes's unwritten novel, which he titled Vita Nova, and lecture notes that sketch the critic's views on photography. Following on The Neutral: Lecture Course at the Collège de France (1977-1978) and a third forthcoming collection of Barthes lectures, this volume provides an intensely personal account of the labor and love of writing.

Exploring the evolution of Roland Barthes' thought, this collection presents previously untranslated essays, interviews, and critiques, highlighting his journey from structuralism to post-structuralism. Thematically organized into volumes on Theory, Politics, Literary Criticism, Signs and Images, and Interviews, it showcases his innovative approach to cultural criticism and semiology. Barthes' work engages with complex ideas about literature, emotion, and the role of the reader, reflecting his restless intellectual spirit until his untimely death in 1980.

The collection features a majority of Roland Barthes's interviews from various French publications, showcasing his distinctive voice and perspectives on topics such as cinema, fashion, writing, and criticism. Through these conversations, readers gain insight into Barthes's profound intelligence and influence, revealing his thoughts and reflections in a direct and engaging manner. This compilation offers a unique glimpse into the mind of one of the 20th century's most significant intellectuals.

'May be the most detailed, painstaking anatomy of desire that we are ever likely to see or need again... An ecstatic celebration of love and language' Washington Post The language we use when we are in love is not a language we speak. It is a language addressed to ourselves and to our imaginary beloved. It is a language of solitude, of mythology, of what Barthes calls an 'image repertoire'. Reviving the notion of the amorous subject beyond psychological or clinical enterprises, Barthes' A Lover's Discourse is a book for everyone who has ever been in love, or indeed, thought themselves to be immune to its power.

Exploring the multifaceted intellect of Roland Barthes, this collection presents significant previously untranslated essays, interviews, and critiques from various phases of his career. Organized into five themed volumes, it covers Theory, Politics, Literary Criticism, Signs and Images, and a dedicated volume of interviews. These interviews, conducted between 1970 and 1979, showcase Barthes' evolution from a structuralist outsider to a prominent cultural critic, highlighting his innovative approach and influence on literary semiology before his untimely death in 1980.

Semiology is the science of signs and symbols, and their role in culture and society. This title presents a scientific definition of Saussurean linguistics and their aftermath.

In these interviews, given between 1962 and 1980, Barthes speaks about the development of his thought, explaining why and how he wrote his many books, paying tributes to philosophers, linguists, novelists, poets, painters and film-makers who have inspired him, as well as discussing how his life became dedicated to an exploration of semiotics.