Barthes and Commissioned Writing

2020 ◽  
pp. 205-230
Author(s):  
Antoine Compagnon

Roland Barthes constantly complained about being overwhelmed with requests and importunities; people were always sending him texts to read, and strangers would write or phone for appointments, articles, and advice. What he called the burden of administration (‘la gestion’) took up as much of his time as creative work. And he entertained the dream of a Vita Nova, liberated from supplications. The decision of ‘15 April 1978’, recorded in La Préparation du roman, was a revelation: henceforth, all of his life would be concentrated around literature – the novel – and he would switch to an ex-directory phone number. Yet Barthes, at the same time, loved the pressure of demands; he was addicted to the flow of requests and could not work without the stimulus of commissions and deadlines. In fact, as he well knew, most of what he produced started out as a commission (whether a ‘demande’ or a ‘commande’), right from the very first articles in Combat and his many contributions to book clubs. All through his life the pressure of writing for journals never ceased: Existences, Esprit, Théâtre populaire, Lettres nouvelles, L’Observateur or France-Observateur; later Critique, Communications, Tel Quel… This is the paradox to be explored in this chapter.

Author(s):  
Antela Voulis

Petro Marko is considered by critics as one of the founders of modern Albanian prose. Scientific assessments of Petro Markos’s creativity are mainly based on long and short prose, in the form of genuine critical studies, short predictions, comments and analysis. There are papers of this nature written by scholars such as: Floresha Dado, Adriatik Kallulli, Bashkim Kuçuku, Ali Aliu, Robert Elsie and many others. The subject matter of these articles varies from simple information to moments of writer’s life, to genuine studies and analysis regarding interpretation and explanation of different elements of the structure of his literary works. In this case, we would like to highlight an article written by the author Bashkim Kuçuku, namely the novel “A name on four streets”. In this particular paper, Kucuku discusses the symbolism of the novel’s title, that even in its metaphorical form didn’t escape the punishment of dictatorship censure, closely connected with the tragic fate that followed Petro Marko. And by doing so the researcher gives us a detailed insight of the connection between his work and a broader background of Marco’s biography. In this context, together with the detailed analysis of the novel’s title, we will find the key point that paves the way for penetrating the original metaphor and symbolism of the story. According to Kuçuku, Petro Marko is a dignified, idealist, as well a stoic writer for justice and social equality. It is precisely this book, “A name in four ways”, that distinctly portrays the aforementioned author as one of the leading writers of prose in Albania and this work is one of his most distinguished among all the others. It is the aim of this study to harmonize the internal narrative analysis of the prose style with the poetic expression of all Petro Mario’s creative work.


2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-150
Author(s):  
Valérie Stiénon
Keyword(s):  

Résumé C’est à l’occasion d’une circonstance malheureuse, celle de la maladie de sa mère bientôt mourante, que Roland Barthes s’essaie à l’écriture diariste, à Urt en 1977. Cette brève initiation à l’écriture journalière devient rapidement un important sujet de réflexion : « Je n’ai jamais tenu de journal — ou plutôt je n’ai jamais su si je devais en tenir un », déclare-t-il en 1979, en ouverture de son article « Délibération » paru dans le numéro 82 de Tel Quel. La question, en effet, requiert pour le moins une délibération : tout se passe comme s’il s’agissait de trouver de nouvelles raisons de douter, quitte à déplacer la suspicion initiale sur le bien-fondé d’une pratique vers la mise en cause de sa valeur littéraire puis vers celle de sa « publiabilité ». À court d’arguments destinés à sauver le Journal d’une littérature sans preuves où le confinent sa valeur incertaine et sa redondance, la sinueuse délibération personnelle de 1979 ne parvient au mieux qu’à lui découvrir une littérarité douteuse, avant d’éluder la question de l’écriture diariste en l’orientant vers l’utopie d’un Journal idéal qui serait rythme et leurre, qui inscrirait dans l’idiorrythmie de sa structure une conduite de vie idéale et déjouerait les pièges de l’Imago. Cet article s’emploie à cerner les enjeux de l’écriture barthésienne du journal personnel afin de mettre en évidence son importance comme clé de relecture de la production du « dernier Barthes ». Digressive et intermittente, souple et expérimentale, l’écriture du Journal s’avère convenir à la « papillonne » d’un observateur du quotidien à qui elle offre les avantages d’une pratique personnalisée et cumulative de la notatio, à condition toutefois d’affranchir cette dernière de l’infatuation du narcissisme, non assimilable à la véritable subjectivité.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-336
Author(s):  
Steen Bille Jørgensen

In French 1960s’ literature, the strategy of re-writing is associated with the New Novel and the ideological Tel Quel movement. However, a more ironical poetics of the novel can be found in Blanche ou l'oubli (1967) by Louis Aragon1 and Les Choses (1967) by Georges Perec.2 Both novels are rewritings of Gustave Flaubert's L'Education sentimentale, with particular attention to that novel's main theme of ‘illusion’. The interesting question then is how literary tradition becomes a part of the meta-fictional interrogation of human experience in a particular historical context. Perec uses the rhythm of Flaubert's sentences to draw attention to the story as a construction and to his characters’ lack of significance. Aragon foregrounds the novel's capacity of holding on to experience as such, with autobiography (Flaubert's as well as his own) linked to materialistic-historical conditions. Ultimately, in following the writer's reading of the historical work, the reader must seek what literature offers him or her the opportunity to apprehend his/her own conditions for experience.


Author(s):  
Milyausha Nazimovna Kemalova ◽  
◽  
Farida Hanifovna Sakhapova ◽  
Tatyana Viktorovna Mazaeva ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
روسني بن سامة (Rosni Bin Samah)

ملخص البحث:تعد رواية فريدة هانم الماليزية أول رواية فنية في الأدب الماليزي الحديث، حيث اتفق الأدباء والباحثون على ذلك، ولكنهم اختلفوا في أصليتها الإبداعية لوجود تصوير البيئة المصرية لأحداثها. ومن جهة أخرى عاش البطل في الرواية من بدايتها حتى نهايتها في القاهرة، ومنهم من رأى بأنها رواية مترجمة من الرواية العربية، ومن منهم من رأى بأنها رواية إبداعية ابتدعها الراوي بتصوير البيئة المصرية. وتهدف هذه الدراسة إلى الكشف عن حقيقة أمرها بتجلية معايير تأثرها برواية زينب، حيث قام الباحث بالمقارنة بين الروايتين، وتوصلت النتائج إلى أن رواية فريدة هانم الماليزية تأثرت برواية زينب المصرية ولكن راويها لا يترجم تلك الرواية بل قام بالاطلاع عليها ثم صاغها بصياغته الجديدة مع رعاية البيئة المصرية وعاء لها.الكلمات المفتاحية: رواية هانم المصرية- رواي هانم الماليزية- معاير الرواية -المقارنة- التشابه.Abstract:Faridah Hanum is regarded as the first  Malay novel in Modern Malay Literature by the literary circles and researchers but they are in disagreement on the originality of its creativity features since its setting is Egyptian. On the other hand, its hero lived in Cairo from the beginning of the story until the end. Some of them viewed that it is a translated version of an Arabic novel while others still see it as a creative work with an Egyptian background. This study aims at discovering the truth about the status of the novel through pointing out the influences of the Arabic novel “Zainab” on it. This is done through comparing between the two novels. It is concluded that the Malay novel “Faridah Hanum” indeed had been influenced by “Zainab”, but it is not a translation but rather the writer happened to have read the Zainab novel but later on tried to put the story in  a new plot though he did retain the Egytian background as the setting.Keywords: Hanum Egyptian Novel–  Hanim the Malaysian novelist– Standards of Novel – Comparison– Similarities.Abstrak:Faridah Hanum dianggap sebagai novel Melayu pertama dalam kesusasteraan Melayu moden oleh kumpulan sasterawan dan penyelidik-penyelidik namun mereka masih lagi berada dalam percanggahan tentang keasliannya kerana persekitarannya yang berlatarkan sebuah negara asing: Mesir kerana wiranya tinggal di Kaherah dari permulaan cerita sehinggalah ke penghujungnya. Sebahagian dar mereka melihat yang ia adalah satu terjemahan satu novel Arab manakala yang lain masih menyaksikan ia adala satu hasil kerja kreatif dengan hanya menggunakan latar belakang Mesir. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menemukan beberapa fakta tentang status novel tersebut dengan melihat kepada pengaruh-pengaruh novel Arab “Zainab”  yang terdapat padanya. Ini dilaksanakan melalui perbandingan antara dua novel tersebut. Kesimpulannya, novel Melayu “Faridah Hanum” sememangnya telah dipengaruhi oleh “Zainab”, namun ia bukan satu terjemahan tetapi penulis telah berpeluang  membaca novel Zainab dan kemudiannya cuba untuk meletakkan cerita dalam satu plot baru walaupun dia mengekalkan latar belakang Mesir sebagai persekitaran ceritanya.Kata kunci: Orang Mesir– Hanum– Hanim novelis Malaysia– Piawaian Novel– Persamaan-persamaan– Perbandingan.


2017 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 135-149
Author(s):  
Beate Sommerfeld

Der Artikel behandelt den Roman Die Meisen von UUsimaa singen nicht mehr 2014 des Experimentalfilmers und Autors Franz Friedrich als Reflex auf den Umbruch vom analogen zum digitalen Zeitalter. Stark polarisierend bezieht der Roman zum Medienwandel Stellung und schlägt sich auf die Seite der Analogmedien Fotografie und Film, wobei er auf den Fotografie- und Filmdiskurs des 20. Jahrhunderts von Bela Balazs, Walter Benjamin bis hin zu Roland Barthes und Georges Didi-Huberman zurückgreift. Indem der Roman ein Gewebe aus photoästhetischen Topoi, Metaphern und Diskursen spinnt, modelliert er eine Ästhetik des Abdrucks und der Berührung, die auf Roland Barthes’ Modell des “vokalischen Schreibens” rekurriert. Das Unbehagen an der Repräsentation, das aus Friedrichs Roman spricht, geht mit einer nostalgisch gefärbten Sehnsucht nach dem Authentischen einher.“The material matters” — reflections on the upheaval from analogue to digital media in the novel The Tits of Uusimaa Don’t Sing Any More by Franz Friedrich The purpose of the article is to show how literary texts reflect upon the upheaval from analogue to digital media using the example of the novel The Tits of Uusimaa Don’t Sing Any More by the experimental filmmaker and author Franz Friedrich 2014. Friedrich approaches the technological shift from analogue to digital and the transforming landscape of media from a critical viewpoint by looking back at the early 20th-century scenario of intermedial exchange. Doing so, he refers to the 20th-century media discourse Béla Balázs, Walter Benjamin to Roland Barthes and Georges Didi-Huberman, scrutinizing and redefining analogue media by referring to various topoi, metaphors the analogue as a mental imprint of the real. Friedrich confronts the representation paradigm of literature to the aesthetic of contact and resonances, strongly related to Roland Barthes’ concept of “vocal writing”.


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