CLS2970

Autobiographical discourse: Roland Barthes

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

Alexander Garc'a Düttmann

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* Clayton
* Prohibitions: CRT2070/CRT3070

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

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