A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

The "Fragments" is a very original book in its structure as it consist in a list of fragments inspired from litterature, arts or Barthes' own philosophical thought. It explores the feelings, emotions and gestures one can live and adopt when in love, and the relationship between these emotions and language (Barthes was a semiotician). Reading this book, two things struck me: - How close to my own emotions was what was decribed in what I was currently reading - How easily I could regognise lots of my in love friends behaviours which primarily appeared so incomprehensible to me. Realizing these pieces of intimacy - sometimes beautiful, sometime appearing so ridiculous that they seem difficult to share, sometimes making you feel so vulnerable - were so human and actually so largely shared is soothing and helpful in being benevolent in front of in love others' oddness. “Am I in love? --yes, since I am waiting. The other one never waits. Sometimes I want to play the part of the one who doesn't wait; I try to busy myself elsewhere, to arrive late; but I always lose at this game. Whatever I do, I find myself there, with nothing to do, punctual, even ahead of time. The lover's fatal identity is precisely this: I am the one who waits.”