Neutral Life
Roland Barthes' Late Work - An Introduction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2353009 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sunil Manghani (0000-0001-6406-7456, University of Southampton, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 3-34 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory Culture & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0263-2764 • E-ISSN: 1460-3616 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0263276420911425 |
| OpenAlex | W3020418642 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 19 |
As the introduction and lead article for a special issue of Theory, Culture & Society, 'Neutral Life/Late Barthes', this article offers an overview of the 'new' Barthes that emerges from the late writings and recent 'Barthes Studies'. The account centres upon the posthumous publication of Barthes' three key lecture courses delivered at the Collège de France, at the end of the 1970s, which reflect his preoccupation with the everyday, yet reveal a new degree of sophistication, both formal and conceptual. Presented in their original note form, the lectures present perhaps the clearest (if incomplete) affirmative project of Barthes' entire career. The Neutral in particular is pivotal in understanding an ethics of the late works. While Barthes is perhaps most cited for his rumination on the temporality of the photograph, the lecture courses give rise to an ethics of space and distance, rather than of time and telos. Crucially, for Barthes, the Neutral is not neutrality; it is not divestment, but 'an ardent, burning activity'. In establishing Barthes' ethics of a Neutral Life, the articles closes - with reference to Derrida's mourning of Barthes - with a reminder to read Barthes again, or rather a reminder of our current postponed reading of him
Aesthetics · Epistemology · Neutrality · Postmodernism · Psychoanalysis · Reading (process · Sociology · Telos · Temporality · Testimonial · Diverse Cultural and Historical Studies · French Literature and Critical Theory · French Literature and Criticism · Philosophy · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |