A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

	Cover of the first edition
Author	Roland Barthes
Original title	Fragments d’un discours amoureux
Language	French
Publication date	1977
Publication place	France
OCLC	10314663
	Show more

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments (French: Fragments d’un discours amoureux) is a 1977 book by Roland Barthes. It contains a list of "fragments", some of which come from literature and some from his own philosophical thought, of a lover's point of view. Barthes calls them "figures"—gestures of the lover at work.^[1]

Film adaptations

The book has been used as the basis for films of fiction:

Hong Kong film Lover's Discourse (戀人絮語, 2010), directed by Derek Tsang and Jimmy Wan. The film consisted of four interconnected stories about love and lovers. The ensemble cast of the film includes Eason Chan, Karena Lam, Kay Tse, Mavis Fan, Eddie Peng, Jacky Heung and Kit Chen.^[2]

French film Let the Sunshine In (Un Beau soleil intérieur, 2017), directed by Claire Denis. That film, which tells the attempts of a middle-aged woman to find love with a series of successive partners, stars Juliette Binoche and a cast including Xavier Beauvois and Nicolas Duvauchelle.^[3]

Cultural references

The lyrical themes on the British duo The Lover Speaks' 1986 eponymous debut album were based on ideas from A Lover's Discourse, with singer David Freeman describing the album as an attempt to produce a "musical cartoon of [Barthes'] book".^[4]
A Lover's Discourse is mentioned in, and central to, the plot of Jeffrey Eugenides' novel The Marriage Plot (2011).^[5]
Artist Tessa Boffin quoted sections of Barthes' text in a photo-essay titled A Lover's Distance.^[6]^[7]
Claire Denis's 2017 film, Let the Sunshine In, is based on A Lover's Discourse.^[8]
Blythe Roberson's 2019 essay collection How to Date Men When You Hate Men was inspired by and is a "modern response to A Lover's Discourse."^[9]
This reference inspired for Mandarin song with the same name by Sodagreen vocalist Greeny Wu from his 3rd studio album Mallarme's Tuesdays with Karena Lam as French narrator.

Editions

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments, translated from the French by Richard Howard, Hill and Wang, (1979), ISBN 0-374-52161-1

References

^ Roland., Barthes (2010). A lover's discourse : fragments. Howard, Richard, 1929-, Koestenbaum, Wayne. (Pbk. ed.). New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0374532314. OCLC 655759551.
^ "Lover's Discourse". www.fareastfilm.com. Archived from the original on 2023-04-10. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
^ "The Beauty of a Rom-Com - Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 2020-04-04. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
^ The Lover Speaks - Cherry Pop - CRPOP158 - 2015 - CD release liner notes
^ Greenberg, Michael (2011-11-24). "The Mania of Love". The New York Review of Books. ISSN 0028-7504. Archived from the original on 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
^ Boffin, Tessa (1988). "The Blind Leading the Blind: Socialist-Feminism and Representation". Feminist Review (29): 158–161. doi:10.2307/1395161. JSTOR 1395161.
^ Boffin, Tessa; Barthes, Roland (1987). "A Lover's Distance: Fragments: A Photoessay". Feminist Review (25): 99–107. doi:10.2307/1395041. ISSN 0141-7789. JSTOR 1395041.
^ Duponchel, Marilou. "Quels films seront sélectionnés à Cannes ? Nos pronostics". Les Inrockuptibles. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
^ Lloyd, Rachel (February 12, 2019). "All you need to know about "How to Date Men When You Hate Men"". The Economist. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.

[1] Roland., Barthes (2010). A lover's discourse : fragments. Howard, Richard, 1929-, Koestenbaum, Wayne. (Pbk. ed.). New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0374532314. OCLC 655759551.

[2] "Lover's Discourse". www.fareastfilm.com. Archived from the original on 2023-04-10. Retrieved 2023-04-10.

[3] "The Beauty of a Rom-Com - Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 2020-04-04. Retrieved 2018-01-17.

[4] The Lover Speaks - Cherry Pop - CRPOP158 - 2015 - CD release liner notes

[5] Greenberg, Michael (2011-11-24). "The Mania of Love". The New York Review of Books. ISSN 0028-7504. Archived from the original on 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2018-01-17.

[6] Boffin, Tessa (1988). "The Blind Leading the Blind: Socialist-Feminism and Representation". Feminist Review (29): 158–161. doi:10.2307/1395161. JSTOR 1395161.

[7] Boffin, Tessa; Barthes, Roland (1987). "A Lover's Distance: Fragments: A Photoessay". Feminist Review (25): 99–107. doi:10.2307/1395041. ISSN 0141-7789. JSTOR 1395041.

[8] Duponchel, Marilou. "Quels films seront sélectionnés à Cannes ? Nos pronostics". Les Inrockuptibles. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.

[lloyd-9] Lloyd, Rachel (February 12, 2019). "All you need to know about "How to Date Men When You Hate Men"". The Economist. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

v t e Roland Barthes
Books	Writing Degree Zero (1953) Mythologies (1957) Elements of Semiology (1964) "The Death of the Author" (1967) S/Z (1970) The Pleasure of the Text (1975) A Lover's Discourse: Fragments (1977) The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies (1979) Camera Lucida (1980)
Concepts	Death of the author Effect of reality Semiotics of photography Texte lisible

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	France BnF data

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

Add your contribution

Hub overview

Root Wikipedia Article

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

Key Information

Film adaptations

Cultural references

Editions

References