Lover's Discourse, A

Description:
The language we use when we are in love is not a language we speak, for it is addressed to ourselves and to our imaginary beloved. It is a language of solitude, of mythology, of what Barthes calls an 'image repertoire'. This book revives beyond the psychological or clinical enterprises which have characterised such researches in our culture - the notion of the amorous subject. It will be enjoyed and understood by two groups of readers: those who have been in love (Or think they have, which is the same thing), and those who have never been in love (or think they have not, which is the same thing). This book might be considered, in its restless search for authorities and examples, which range from Nietzsche to Zen, from Ruysbroek to Debussy, an encyclopaedia of that affirmative discourse which is the lover's.

Review:
'A kind of mercurial elegy...Some extraordinary passion leaks through Barthes' lucid prose' Peter Ackroyd, Spectator; 'A Lover's Discourse...may be the most detailed, painstaking anatomy of desire that we are ever likely to see or need again...The mini-topics range over the whole known gamut of love and beyond: jealousy, waiting, letters, being in love with love itself, the meaning of 'I love you' (his reflection on these three words will make the reader hesitate before ever using them again), quarrels, the threat of suicide, love at first sigh, and on and on...All readers will find something they recognize in Barthes' recreation of the lover's fevered consciousness: The book is an ecstatic celebration of love and language and...readers interested in either or both...will enjoy savouring its rich and dark delights' Washington Post Book World