Présenté à l'origine comme thèse de doctorat de l'auteur Claude Coste.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Texte remanié de: Thèse d'État--Paris-Sorbonne, 1986. / Bibliogr. p. 498-495.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 59-62).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 59-62). Also available in print.

This thesis contributes to a discussion of the specificity of Roland Barthes' post-structural theorizing by examining some of the themes and techniques of aestheticization running through his writing--reverie, pleasure, "perversion," and the hyper-textualization of the human subject and culture. Following this thread/hypothesis of aestheticization, the thesis focuses upon changing notions of the human subject and textuality presented in Barthes' writings from "The Death of the Author" (1968) until Camera Lucida (1980). The opening chapter discusses aestheticizing and decadent discourses in nineteenth century French and English literary traditions, identifies relevant intertexts, and proposes a set of key themes in aestheticizing discourses--the rejection of the natural, the quest for separation and mediation expressed in a valorization of artifice, aesthetic pleasure, private experience, and anti-utilitarian, anti-bourgeois values. The second chapter lays out the myth of an alienated literary modernity underwriting Barthes' later theorizing. Subsequent chapters follow shifts in notions of subjectivity, textuality, and aestheticizing strategies in most of the major texts produced by Barthes during this period: S/Z, The Empire of Signs, Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes, Fragments of a Lover's Discourse, Camera Lucida, and essays collected in The Rustle of Language and The Responsibility of Forms. The last two chapters follow Barthes' half-ludic struggle with his earlier construction of the subject as public intertext. He dramatically moves away from conventional forms of theorizing into the cultivation of subjectivity, affectivity, and personal culture to escape being captured in the public texts of the cultural Imaginary. Finally, the thesis will consider some of the contributions and consequences of his theories, including whether the cultural skepticism and pose of fatal belatedness underwriting his positions can be maintained.

In this thesis, I examine Roland Barthes's essays on music in order to explore the relationship between the musical and linguistic elements of the contemporary popular song. I argue that what song lyrics appear to "say" bears no relation to what they "mean." Rather, meaning resides in the act of engaging with the popular song. First, I analyze the four main phases of Barthes's thinking in order to provide a basis on which to explore his work. Second, I provide an in-depth study of his essays on music. I then critique the literary approach to song analysis through an examination of selected writings on Bob Dylan. Finally, I explore U2's song "Numb" and Beck's "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" in order to illustrate the notion of engagement.

Entre Roland Barthes et les historiens de l’école des Annales un lien de solidarité se crée au fil des années, suscitant d’importants enjeux intellectuels. Barthes essaie de renouveler l’histoire et la théorie littéraire en s’appuyant sur l’idée de l’histoire des mentalités et la théorie de la « longue durée » de Fernand Braudel. Parallèlement il souhaite situer sa sémiologie au croisement des sciences humaines : la sémiologie interroge le rapport des sciences au signe, elle s’enrichit en même temps de leurs apports et se déplace toujours en étant attentive à leurs nouvelles inquiétudes. La sémiologie et l’histoire sont fortement liées dans la pensée de Barthes, car le sens est un produit de l’histoire. En essayant de mettre en évidence la dimension historique de la pensée barthésienne nous souhaitons d’un côté questionner le développement possible de la recherche interdisciplinaire, et de l’autre, démontrer la puissance, encore aujourd’hui originale, d’une théorie historique de lecture, telle qu’on peut la déduire de l’œuvre de Barthes. / Roland Barthes and the historians of the Annales School formed a bond of solidarity over the course of many years, raising major intellectual issues. Barthes tried to renew history and literary theory, relying in part on the idea of the history of mentalities and Fernand Braudel’s theory of the “longue durée”. At the same time, he wished to situate his semiology at the crossroads of human sciences: semiology interrogates the relation of the sciences to the sign, while simultaneously enriching their contributions and always working with an attentiveness to their new anxieties. Semiology and history are strongly linked in Barthes’ thought because meaning is a product of history. In attempting to highlight the historical dimension of Barthesian thought we wish to question the possible development of interdisciplinary research, while at the same time demonstrating the power, still strikingly original today, of a historical theory of reading, one that can be deduced from the work of Barthes.

This thesis contributes to a discussion of the specificity of Roland Barthes' post-structural theorizing by examining some of the themes and techniques of aestheticization running through his writing--reverie, pleasure, "perversion," and the hyper-textualization of the human subject and culture. Following this thread/hypothesis of aestheticization, the thesis focuses upon changing notions of the human subject and textuality presented in Barthes' writings from "The Death of the Author" (1968) until Camera Lucida (1980). The opening chapter discusses aestheticizing and decadent discourses in nineteenth century French and English literary traditions, identifies relevant intertexts, and proposes a set of key themes in aestheticizing discourses--the rejection of the natural, the quest for separation and mediation expressed in a valorization of artifice, aesthetic pleasure, private experience, and anti-utilitarian, anti-bourgeois values. The second chapter lays out the myth of an alienated literary modernity underwriting Barthes' later theorizing. Subsequent chapters follow shifts in notions of subjectivity, textuality, and aestheticizing strategies in most of the major texts produced by Barthes during this period: S/Z, The Empire of Signs, Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes, Fragments of a Lover's Discourse, Camera Lucida, and essays collected in The Rustle of Language and The Responsibility of Forms. The last two chapters follow Barthes' half-ludic struggle with his earlier construction of the subject as public intertext. He dramatically moves away from conventional forms of theorizing into the cultivation of subjectivity, affectivity, and personal culture to escape being captured in the public texts of the cultural Imaginary. Finally, the thesis will consider some of the contributions and consequences of his theories, including whether the cultural skepticism and pose of fatal belatedness underwriting his positions can be maintained. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate