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