Diary-writing and the return of Gide in Barthes's 'Vita Nova'. Issue 2 (23rd February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ferguson, Sam
• Is Part Of: Textual practice. Volume 30:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 241
• Page End: 266
• Publication Date: 2016-02-23
• Subjects: Roland Barthes -- André Gide -- diary-writing -- journal intime -- 'Vita Nova' -- Mourning Diary -- 'Deliberation' -- Soirées de Paris; Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism, Textual -- Periodicals; Semiotics -- Periodicals; 801.95
• DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2016.1129727
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-236X

Abstract

Abstract : This article examines the relation of Roland Barthes's diary-writing to the historical development of the journal intime . For Barthes, the journal intime was particularly associated with André Gide, but Barthes's own diary-writing was largely determined by his aims for a 'Vita Nova' (involving a new form of life and writing) and by his state of mourning following the death of his mother. Barthes's experimentation with the literary possibilities of diary-writing can be followed through his writing of the Mourning Diary, the article 'Deliberation', and Soirées de Paris . The Mourning Diary and Soirées de Paris each carry the diary to one of its logical extremes, and these two texts were assigned a place in Barthes's plans for a novel, before this project was interrupted by his death in 1980.