"Masculine, Feminine, Neuter" and Other Writings on Literature by Roland Barthes
Essays and Interviews, Volume 3
There are book reviews, then book reviews written by Roland Barthes. Masculine, Feminine, Neuter is a compilation of his writings that deals with the subject matter of literature. The beauty of his critical thought is that he gets into the text and culture of the book that he's focusing on. I have always found his writings on the New Novel, in other words, the novels by Alain Robbe-Grillet, fascinating. Robbe-Grillet and others were simultaneously working in a different format, very objective and subjective. The writing is factual, but reporting that fact will always be subjective, which is a reminder of how one should read the news. There is also a commentary on Marcel Proust regarding his masterpiece In Search of Lost Time and how that book is about writing, such as life happened, but the writing part is another form of energy.
Lately Robbe-Grillet and Proust have got me thinking about how I want to approach literature, both as a reader and writer. Like our beloved Michael Silverblatt, the host and main thought-master for Bookworm has in common with Barthes is the love of actual reading, but somehow they can both pentrate into the text to find new worlds. Or, in my readings and writings, to open my world to even further exposure in a spiritual and sensual manner.
This, and the other publications by Barthes are published by Seagull, and is from the 2002 edition of Roland Barthes Oeuvres complètes edited by Éric Marty in France. Seagull Books should be congratulated for publishing this series of Barthes' essays that haven't been issued in English before. And again, reading Barthes is like having an excellent friend whisper in your ear as you read a text he's interested in. A good friend indeed.
.. I can help but recommending Tom McCarthy's 'Tintin and the Secret of Literature', which takes Barthes to go from S/Z to R/G ...