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CRT2070/3070

Autobiographical discourse: Roland Barthes

Alexander García Düttmann

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives On the successful completion of this subject students should have achieved a critical understanding of `autobiography' as a literary and philosophical mode; and should have gained an awareness of the different forms and functions of autobiography. Students should have learned about the heritage of the `fragment' in European literary history, and how to assess arguments about the values of linearity and fragmentation in autobiography. In addition, students should have cultivated a critical appreciation of the writings of Roland Barthes, and have gained an awareness of the various contexts in which they were written. Finally, students should have gained skills in argumentation and in essay writing.

Synopsis This subject is designed to introduce students to two main concerns. In the first place, it provides a critical introduction to the notion of `autobiography'. Particular attention is given to an examination of the assumptions at work in `autobiography': namely, `selfhood', `life', `voice', and `writing'. In the second place, students are introduced to the writings of the French cultural and literary critic Roland Barthes. Students will examine how Barthes fragments traditional notions of the self, how he reconfigures `pleasure' and `joy', and how he examines relationships with lovers and the figure of the mother. A particular study will be made of the role of the photographic image in autobiographical discourse. Students will also be introduced to some of the cultural, literary and philosophical contexts in which Barthes lived and wrote.

Assessment second year Two essays (3000 words each): 50% each
* Second-year students are required to write two comparative essays.

Assessment third year Two essays (3000 words each): 50% each Third-year students write one comparative and one research essay.

Prescribed texts

Barthes R The pleasure of the text Hill and Wang

Barthes R Camera Lucida Hill and Wang

Barthes R Barthes by Barthes Hill and Wang

Barthes R A lover's discourse Hill and Wang

Recommended texts

Barthes R Empire of signs Hill and Wang

Barthes R The grain of the voice Hill and Wang

Calvert L J Roland Barthes: A Biography Polity

Culler J Barthes Fontana

Lavers A Roland Barthes: Structuralism and after Methuen

Miller D A Bringing out Roland Barthes U California P

Ungar S Roland Barthes: The professor of desire U Nebraska P


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Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996