On Barthes’ biography
On Barthes’ biography
This article presents an interview with Tiphaine Samoyault, author of Roland Barthes, Biographie (Éditions du Seuil, 2015). There is always a difficulty in approaching the biography of Roland Barthes, who famously gave us the thesis of the ‘death of the author’. Nonetheless, Samoyault’s lengthy study can be considered the closest thing to an ‘official’ biography. Unlike other biographers, she was given access to and granted permission to cite from a wide range of private papers and materials. This inside view has not stopped her from detailing some of the more sensitive sides of Barthes’ life, and importantly she has been able to reassess aspects of his writings and relationship to other key thinkers of the time and the wider politics. As part of the interview, various extracts from the biography are woven into the dialogue, allowing those unfamiliar with it to gain more direct access to the book itself.
Samoyault, Tiphaine
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Manghani, Sunil
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Samoyault, Tiphaine
5b2319ba-33cc-413e-8efd-cf1239d9579c
Manghani, Sunil
75650a9a-458d-4e1a-9480-94491300e385
Samoyault, Tiphaine and Manghani, Sunil
(2020)
On Barthes’ biography.
Theory, Culture & Society, 37.
(In Press)
Abstract
This article presents an interview with Tiphaine Samoyault, author of Roland Barthes, Biographie (Éditions du Seuil, 2015). There is always a difficulty in approaching the biography of Roland Barthes, who famously gave us the thesis of the ‘death of the author’. Nonetheless, Samoyault’s lengthy study can be considered the closest thing to an ‘official’ biography. Unlike other biographers, she was given access to and granted permission to cite from a wide range of private papers and materials. This inside view has not stopped her from detailing some of the more sensitive sides of Barthes’ life, and importantly she has been able to reassess aspects of his writings and relationship to other key thinkers of the time and the wider politics. As part of the interview, various extracts from the biography are woven into the dialogue, allowing those unfamiliar with it to gain more direct access to the book itself.
Text
Manghani-Samoyault-Barthes-Biography-ACCEPTED
- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 1 February 2020
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Local EPrints ID: 439108
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/439108
ISSN: 0263-2764
PURE UUID: 3625142b-73a9-40aa-b8ea-6be7e0d370c0
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Date deposited: 03 Apr 2020 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:31
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Author:
Tiphaine Samoyault
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