A LOVER'S DISCOURSE: FRAGMENTS - Rare Fine Copy of The First American Edition/First Printing

Barthes, Roland (Translated by Richard Howard)

ISBN 10: 0809066890 / ISBN 13: 9780809066896

Published by New York City, NY: Hill And Wang, 1977, 1978

About this Item

1st Printing. 186 pages. Published in 1977. The author's first autobiographical writing. One of the greatest books of the 20th century. The first book in the final and greatest work by Roland Barthes, the trilogy that he began with this book, continued with "Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes" (1977), and concluded with "Camera Lucida: Reflections On Photography" (1980, published posthumously in English in 1981). The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Roland Barthes' "A Lover's Discourse" in a felicitous English translation. His single most popular book, which catapulted him to media celebrity and bestseller-dom. Profoundly personal reflections about love, these fragments "will be enjoyed by two groups of readers: Those who have been in love (or think they have, which is the same thing), who will discover that it tells the truth about their lives and languages; and those who have never been in love (or they think they have not, which is the same thing), who will discover the truth about everyone else" (Richard Howard). Every true lover is engaged in discourse because love is inexpressible through ordinary speech or writing. Hence the banality and triteness of all "I love you" expressions. Love always expresses itself as an address: To ourselves, introspectively, and to the loved one, declaratively. Writing during the terminal phase of Modernism - that some call "post-modernism", which is like an unwelcome tail to the body of Modernism -, Barthes chooses to return to the most old-fashioned (and intellectually suspect) subject of all: Love. Without necessarily realizing it at the time, Barthes did it because he yearned to liberate himself from the limits of "formal" writing, to which he had devoted his whole life, in order to re-invent writing as a work of the highest achievement, lyricism, and beauty, without rejecting critical thinking. Therein lies his trilogy's greatness and wisdom. Two posthumously published books, "Incidents" and "Mourning Diary", both of them private journals (that he never intended to be published), show that Barthes pursued "A Lover's Discourse" primarily for his own understanding and illumination: As recounted in his journals, his actual "love life" was miserable. An absolute "must-have" title for Roland Barthes collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of very few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are in subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. The greatest European culture critic of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ROLAND BARTHES TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0809066890.

Seller Inventory # 23951

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A LOVER'S DISCOURSE: FRAGMENTS - Rare Fine Copy of The First American Edition/First Printing
• Publisher: New York City, NY: Hill And Wang, 1977
• Publication Date: 1978
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0809066890
• ISBN 13: 9780809066896
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: no

About this title

Synopsis

‘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.

Review

"Love, here, is a state of the imagination, with the lover desperate to interpret the dire ambiguities inseparable from his role. This is a speculative book, and a melancholy one, an exploration of the idiom of anxiety. Barthes's love is a passion in the old, suffering sense of the word" (Observer)

"May be the most detailed, painstaking anatomy of desire that we are ever likely to see or need again... All readers will find something they recognize in Barthes' recreation of the lover's fevered consciousness: The book is an ecstatic celebration of love and language and...readers interested in either or both...will enjoy savouring its rich and dark delights" (Washington Post Book World)