Is not the most erotic part of the body wherever the clothing affords a glimpse?
Roland BarthesRead
This endured absence is nothing more or less than forgetfulness. I am, intermittently, unfaithful. This is the condition of my survival.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the complexities of love and memory, suggesting that emotional distance can lead to forgetfulness in relationships.
Roland Barthes speaks to the tension between presence and absence in relationships, implying that taking a break or being apart can lead to varying degrees of emotional commitment. The idea of forgetfulness here signifies a defense mechanism that one might adopt for survival in love, where unfaithfulness becomes a form of coping with the pain of separation and the struggle to maintain emotional ties.
Themes
AbsenceForgetfulnessUnfaithfulnessLoveMemoryRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared at a relationship workshop to illustrate how absence affects emotional connections.
More from Roland Barthes
All quotes βIf I acknowledge my dependency, I do so because for me it is a means of signifying my demand: in the realm of love, futility is not a "weakness" or an "absurdity": it is a strong sign: the more futile, the more it signifies and the more it asserts itself as strength.)
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The gesture of the amorous embrace seems to fulfill, for a time, the subject's dream of total union with the loved being: The longing for consummation with the other.
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The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.
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Roland BarthesRead
All those young photographers who are at work in the world, determined upon the capture of actuality, do not know that they are agents of Death.
Roland BarthesRead
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