nakedcitiesjournal

June 25, 2021

Roland Barthes — The Vale of Soul-Making

To know that one does not write for the other, to know that these things I am going to write will never cause me to be loved by the one I love (the other), to know that writing compensates for nothing, sublimates nothing, that it is precisely there where you are not–this is the beginning of writing.
— Roland Barthes, A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments. (Hill and Wang; Second Printing edition June 1, 1979) Originally published 1977.
Roland Barthes — The Vale of Soul-Making

June 15, 2021

Art of Traveling (a text of Dany Laferrière translated by Vadim Bystritski) — Before and After Francis Ponge

The ultimate luxury in our increasingly gregarious world, the thing more and more refused to each other, is being alone. That is why we need to have delivered to a small local hotel the complete works of Balzac, then announce to everyone our departure on a trip, severing all links and making ourselves unavailable for a few days. […]
Art of Traveling (a text of Dany Laferrière translated by Vadim Bystritski) — Before and After Francis Ponge

June 15, 2021