Is not the most erotic part of the body wherever the clothing affords a glimpse?
Roland BarthesRead
Literature is that which he can not read without pain, without choking on truth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Literature can expose harsh truths that may cause discomfort or challenge our perceptions.
In this quote by Roland Barthes, he emphasizes that literature often contains profound truths that can be difficult for individuals to confront. The act of engaging with such literature may evoke a visceral reaction, as it forces readers to grapple with realities that can be painful or unsettling, ultimately highlighting the powerful role of literature in shaping human experience and understanding.
Themes
LiteratureTruthPainReadingUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion, one might introduce this quote to emphasize the challenging nature of literature.
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.)
Roland BarthesRead
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.
Roland BarthesRead
The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.
Roland BarthesRead
I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.
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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If a secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and meanings noted down alongside of his story, how many insipid volumes would become interesting, and dull tales excite the reader!
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Fiction is a lie that is told in the service of truth.
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It is the nobility of their style which will make our writers of 1840 unreadable forty years from now.
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