The Preparation of the Novel: Lecture Courses and Seminars at the Coll ge de France (1978-1979 and 1979-1980)Completed just weeks before his death, these lectures mark a critical juncture in the career of Roland Barthes, declaring the intention, deeply felt, to compose a novel through an entirely untested method of writing. Unfolding over the course of two years, Barthes engaged in a unique pedagogical experiment: he would combine teaching and writing to "simulate" the creation of a novel, exploring every step of the collaborative process along the way. Barthes's lectures move from the inception of an idea and the need to write something to the actual decision making, planning, and material act of producing a book. He meets the difficulty of transitioning from short, concise expressions (exemplified by his favorite literary form, haiku) to longer, uninterrupted flows of narrative, and he encounters a number of trials and setbacks. Barthes takes solace in a diverse group of writers, including Dante, whose own opus was similarly inspired by the death of a loved one. He also turns to classical philosophy and Taoism and the works of Chateaubriand, Flaubert, Kafka, and Proust. This volume includes eight elliptical plans for Barthes's unwritten novel, which he titled Vita Nova, and notes that shed light on the critic's view of photography. Along with Columbia University Press's The Neutral: Lecture Course at the College de France (1977-1978) and a third forthcoming collection of Barthes lectures, this volume completes a profound exploration into the labor and love of writing. |
Contents
SESSION OF JANUARY 201979 | 35 |
SESSION OF FEBRUARY 31979 | 55 |
SESSION OF FEBRUARY 17 1979 | 67 |
SESSION OF MARCH 31979 | 88 |
THE METAPHOR OF THE LABYRINTH | 111 |
Fields of Presence of the Metaphor | 117 |
SESSION OF DECEMBER 1 1979 | 127 |
SESSION OF DECEMBER 15 1979 | 157 |
To End the Course | 298 |
PROUST AND PHOTOGRAPHY | 305 |
Alfred Agostinelli 1888 1914 | 317 |
Mme Benardaky died in 1913 | 325 |
Marquis Boni de Castellane 1867 1932 | 331 |
Lucie DelarueMardrus 1880 1945 | 337 |
The Gramont children | 343 |
Reynaldo Hahn 1875 1947 | 349 |
Parabase Method Narrative | 167 |
SESSION OF JANUARY 51980 | 174 |
SESSION OF JANUARY 19 1980 | 205 |
SESSION OF JANUARY 261980 | 225 |
SESSION OF FEBRUARY 21980 | 240 |
SESSION OF FEBRUARY 231980 | 289 |
Madeleine Lemaire 1845 1898 | 355 |
Summaries | 377 |
Transcription of Vita Nova | 397 |
| 457 | |
| 471 | |
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The Preparation of the Novel: Lecture Courses and Seminars at the Coll ge de ... Roland Barthes No preview available - 2010 |