Album: Unpublished Correspondence and Texts Read online

  About ten o’clock, the second-in-command of the Montaigne, who was on watch, noted in the northeast the existence of rapidly appearing lights that seemed to be flashes of artillery fire. He informed Commander Barthes, who was not concerned at first and made no changes in his orders. About eleven o’clock, the lights were accompanied by the muffled noise of artillery fire. The commander mounted the bridge, where he remained after confirming the accuracy of the information. It seems clear that from that moment Commander Barthes grasped the imminence of the danger, but was too self-disciplined to let anything show; he continued his patrol duty, increasing the precautionary measures already taken, but without disclosing his opinion.

  At ten past midnight, black shapes were perceived at a short distance. The commander gave the order to put posts on alert and send reconnaissance signals. Immediately, searchlights from the destroyers were unmasked. One of them was so close that, afraid of interfering with English torpedo boats, Commander Barthes retreated so as not to approach it. Almost immediately the Germans opened fire.

  The first cannon fire struck the 57mm artillery that was in front. The men who had reached their weapons were thrown into the sea. The second shots struck the bridge; a piece of shrapnel hit Commander Barthes in the head. The wound seemed serious but not life threatening. Very calmly, the commander gave the order to the second-in-command to steer to Griz-Nez (Le Montaigne was about six nautical miles north-northeast of the cape) and to ground the boat if that became necessary.

  He had hardly finished giving those instructions when a third volley struck the wireless telegraph booth and exploded, killing the commander instantly. All this happened in a matter of seconds. The fourth shots did serious damage to the helm. From that moment on, shots followed one after another so rapidly that the men could not keep track of where they hit. A fire that broke out in front must have convinced the Germans that the boat was going to blow up because they stopped firing.

  As Le Montaigne sank, the second-in-command had the two dinghies lowered into the water. In the first, they put the wounded, and the able-bodied men who remained tried their best to collect the dead but access to the bridge was impossible; a shell that had exploded below had destroyed the ladder. Also the boiler was threatening to blow up, the rear of the ship was rising above the water, and the front had sunk many meters. The second-in-command believed it necessary to abandon the dead and leave Le Montaigne in haste as it was about to engulf the second dinghy in its nose dive toward the bottom.

  The first dinghy was rescued by La Madeleine about one thirty, the second about three o’clock by L’Élisabeth, commanded by M. Guenée. Everyone paid respectful and heartfelt tribute to their late lamented commander whom they deeply loved.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would first like to thank the institutions that retain the letters we are publishing, and to say how friendly, helpful, and welcoming their staffs have been to us.

  We are thinking in particular of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and its manuscript department, the Institut Mémoires de l’Édition Contemporaine, the Bibliothèque Littéraire Jacques-Doucet, and the Bibliothèque Nationale Suisse. Among individuals, we would like to mention Marie-Odile Germain, Olivier Corpet, André Derval, Stéphanie Cudré-Mauroux, and the list goes on. Among Barthes’s correspondents, those holding rights, or those who alerted us to groups of letters, I would like to name Dominque Bourgois, Renaud Camus, Françoise Canetti, Marie-Claude Char, Antoine Châtelet, Antoine Compagnon, Marco Consolini, Raoul Delemazure, Marguerite Derrida, Bernard Faucon, Emmanuel Gabellieri, Christine Guibert, Pierre Guyotat, Éric Hoppenot, Julia Kristeva, Monique Lévi-Strauss, Patrick Longuet, Laura Marin, Alexandru Matei, Gilles Nadeau, Michel Pateau, Sylvie Patron, Frédéric Poulot, Christian Prigent, Antoine Rebeyrol, Jean-Loup Rivière, Jean Starobinski, Jude Stéfan, Catherine Veil, Michel Vinaver, and the list goes on.

  But our thanks go above all to Michel Salzedo, the brother of Roland Barthes, without whose faith and friendship this album would not have been possible.

  My gratitude goes as well to the Institut Universitaire de France, of which I am a member and thanks to which I was able to produce this work.

  NOTE

  When we place the date of a letter in brackets, that indicates a conjecture on our part. Most of the time we have completed abbreviations except when they are significant as such. We have made spelling consistent in certain cases and corrected a few mistakes made by Barthes or his correspondents regarding proper nouns. We have nonetheless respected Barthes’s capitalization style.

  Barthes’s own notes are indicated with asterisks, while editorial notes are numbered. [Editorial notes for Barthes’s own notes are in square brackets.]

  Any time a letter is held by one of the institutions previously cited, we indicate that. No reference indicates the letter belongs to a private collector. These are institutions where the letters from or to Roland Barthes are held: Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal (BA); Bibliothèque Littéraire Jacques-Doucet (BLJD); Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF); Bibliothèque Nationale Suisse in Berne (BNS); Institut Mémoires de l’Édition Contemporaine (IMEC).

  CHRONOLOGY

  1915: Birth of Roland Barthes in Cherbourg, November 12, son of Lieutenant Louis Barthes and Henriette Binger.

  1916: Death of Louis Barthes, October 27, in naval action in the North Sea on the patrol boat, Le Montaigne.

  1916–24: Roland Barthes lives with his mother in Bayonne, in the town of his paternal grandparents. Studies piano with his Aunt Alice.

  1924: Moves to Paris with his mother. She works in a bookbindery in Courbevoie. In November enters primary school at the Lycée Montaigne.

  1926–27: Schooling interrupted by a stay in Capbreton for the birth of his brother Michel, April 11, 1927, child of his mother and André Salzedo, with whom she has an affair.

  1927–30: Returns to Paris and resumes studies at the Lycée Montaigne, sixth grade. Regular summer vacations in Bayonne at the home of Barthes’s paternal grandmother and aunt, the Allées Paulmy.

  1930–34: Studies at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand through the baccalaureate.

  1934: First onset of tuberculosis, May 10. A stay in Bayonne until the end of August, and then beginning in September 1934, a “free cure” in Bedous with his mother and his brother Michel through summer 1935.

  1935–36: Return to Paris, October 1935. Lives on Rue Servandoni in the Sixth Arrondissement. Classical literature studies at the Sorbonne. Founds the Groupe de Théâtre Antique de la Sorbonne with Jacques Veil in 1936. Performance of Perseus by Aeschylus on May 3, 1936, directed by Maurice Jacquemont, costumes by Jean Bazaine, music by Jacques Chailley, masks by Jean Daste.1 Barthes plays the role of Darius.

  1937: Summer stay in Debrecan, Hungary, where he is teaching assistant at the university.

  1938: Summer trip to Greece with the Groupe de Théâtre Antique.

  1939–1940: Teaches at the high school in Biarritz, where he lives with his mother and his brother.

  1940–41: Temporary teacher at the Lycée Voltaire and the Lycée Carnot in Paris. Takes singing lessons with his friend Michel Delacroix under the direction of Charles Panzéra. Defends his advanced degree thesis, “Evocations et incantations dans la tragédie grecque,” in October 1941 under the direction of Paul Mazon at the Sorbonne.

  1941: Relapse of pulmonary tuberculosis in October. First treatments in Paris.

  1942: In January, enters the Sanatorium des Étudiants de France in Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet in Isère. First publication in the spring: “Culture et tragédie” in the first issue of Cahiers de l’étudiant (edited by Robert Mallet, Paris).2

  1943: Postcure stay from January to July at the Paris clinic of Doctor Daniel Douady, Rue de Quatrefages, Fifth Arrondissement. Relapse in July. Second stay at Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet from July to February 1945. Meets Robert David and Georges Canetti.

  1944: Jacques Veil assassinated by the Gestapo in Marseille in January. Plans to study medicine. Enrolls to study
for the preparatory degree for medicine, then withdraws.

  1945: Beginning in February, one-year treatment in the Leysin Sanatorium in Switzerland (with a brief interruption in the month of September for a new postcure).3 In spring, he begins a systematic reading of the complete works of Michelet, which he indexes. Enters the Miremont Clinic in Leysin on October 10 for a right extrapleural pneumothorax.

  1946: Returns to Paris, February 28. The effects of Barthes’s tuberculosis will follow him throughout his life (regular medical visits, examinations, hospitalization, for example, in 1968). In spring, the first sketch from Le Degré zéro de l’écriture, “L’Avenir de la rhétorique.” Postcure in Neufmoutiers-en-Brie during the summer. In September Barthes writes a piece on the exhibition of Dominique Marty’s set designs (Nina Dausset Gallery, 19 Rue du Dragon, Fifth Arrondissement, Paris). Begins doctoral thesis on Michelet at the Sorbonne under the direction of René Pintard (1903–2002).

  1947: Meets Maurice Nadeau through the intermediary Georges Fournié, a militant Trotskyite whom Barthes met in Leysin. Course in social services in June. Publishes his first article, “Le Degré zéro de l’écriture,” in Combat, August 1. In November Barthes takes a position as librarian and then teacher at the Institut Français in Bucharest, whose director is his friend Philippe Reybeyrol. In Bucharest Barthes meets Jean Sirinelli and Charles Singevin. Makes friends with the Romanian filmmaker Petre Sirin (1926–2003).

  1948–49: The Institut Français is closed at the order of the Communist regime in November 1948. Having become a cultural attaché, Barthes remains in the Romanian capital until September 1949. In July 1949, Barthes writes a report for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the intellectual and academic situation in Romania (“Politisation de la science en Roumanie”).

  1949–50: Teaching assistant at the University of Alexandria in Egypt, where he arrives in November 1949. Meets Algirdas Julien Greimas, with whom he becomes friends. New series of five articles in Combat, from November 9 to December 16, 1950, sketches from Le Degré zéro de l’écriture.

  1950–52: Works at the Department of Cultural Relations for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. First articles in Esprit. Meets Albert Béguin. First approaches the publishers Gallimard and Seuil with the idea of publishing Le Degré zéro de l’écriture. Meets Jean Cayrol.

  1952: Student researcher at the CNRS in lexicology. Meets the linguist Georges Matoré. Begins a new thesis with Charles Bruneau on “the vocabulary of relations between the state, employers, and workers from 1827 to 1834, according to legislative, administrative, and academic texts.” His secondary study is the critical edition of De l’éducation militaire by Charles Fourier, under the direction of Matoré. Publication of the “first” of the Mythologies (“Le Monde où l’on catche”) in Esprit in October. First articles in L’Observateur, where Nadeau works.

  1953: Publication of Le Degré zéro de l’écriture by Éditions du Seuil in March.4 First articles on the theater in Les Lettres nouvelles, edited by Maurice Nadeau. Founds Théâtre populaire with Robert Voisin in spring. Teaches courses in French civilization to foreign students at the Sorbonne. Meets Jean Genet at the home of Marguerite Duras and Dionys Mascolo, Rue Saint-Benoît, Sixth Arrondissement, Paris.

  1954: Publication of Michelet par lui-même. Loses his grant from the CNRS in lexicology following a harsh report by Georges Matoré. In June he attends the production of Mother Courage by the Berlin Ensemble directed by Bertolt Brecht. First pieces on Alain Robbe-Grillet in Critique. He becomes friends with Jean Piel. First contact with Jean Starobinski regarding Michelet.

  1954–55: Literary advisor to Éditions de l’Arche, directed by Robert Voisin. Is introduced to Michel Foucault through Robert Mauzi. Meets Michel Vinaver. Makes friends with Georges Perros, Michel Butor, and Pierre and Denise Klossowski, who form a circle of friends.

  1955–56: New grant from CNRS (sociology) as research assistant to the laboratory of Georges Friedmann. The research topic is “social signs and symbols in human relations” and the focus is “contemporary civilian clothing.” Georges Friedmann and Ignace Meyerson are the directors of this work. Meets Maurice Merleau-Ponty with regard to the question of clothing.

  1956: Indicates a desire early in the year to take up singing lessons again with Charles Panzéra, but abandons this plan a few months later. During the summer Barthes writes “Le Mythe aujourd’hui,” which will be the postscript for Mythologies. Participates in the founding of Arguments with Edgar Morin, Jean Duvignaud, and Colette Audry, a review created in December following the Soviet intervention in Hungary. Also sees Henri Lefebvre frequently. Meets Gérard Genette. Meets François Wahl, who will be one of his closest friends and his editor at Seuil—a bit later, in 1961–62, meets Wahl’s companion, the Cuban writer Severo Sarduy.

  1957: Appearance of Mythologies.

  1958: Barthes does not take part in the extreme left’s denunciation of de Gaulle’s rise to power as “fascist.” First stay in the United States in summer, teaches at Middlebury College, meets Richard Howard, the future translator of his work. Stays in New York.

  1959: CNRS grant as research assistant ends. First publications of texts on a semiology of fashion.

  1960: Named chairman of the Sixth Section at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, directed by Fernand Braudel, who supports his candidacy. Refuses to sign the Manifeste des 121 launched by Maurice Blanchot on the “right to insubordination,” but signs an “Appel à l’opinion” in Combat on October 6, with Claude Lefort, Edgar Morin, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Paul Ricoeur, advocating for peace in Algeria. Meets Claude Lévi-Strauss and Marthe Robert. Becomes friends with Lucien Goldmann.

  1961: Puts Etchetoa, the family house in Hendaye, on the market in order to buy a house in Urt, where he will often stay for long periods of time. Attends Michel Foucault’s thesis defense on May 20. Summer travels to Canada and the United States for lectures. Meets Pierre Boulez. First contact with the Tel Quel group through the intermediary of Jean-Edern Hallier.

  1962: Given tenure at the École Pratique des Hautes Études as Director of Studies (“Sociology of Signs, Symbols, and Representations”). Beginning of Barthes’s “seminar,” which is attended by Jean Claude Milner, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques-Alain Miller, and Luc Boltanski, among others. Participates in the start of the Revue internationale with Maurice Blanchot. First encounter with Louis Althusser in October.

  1963: Appearance of Sur Racine. At the end of August, Barthes completes a new version of Système de la mode, the final draft of which will not be completed until April 1964, and will not be published until 1967, delayed by the appearance of Essais critiques (1964) and Critique et vérité (1966). Meets François Braunschweig in November. Makes friends with Claude Simon. Joins the editorial board of Critique. First contact with Philippe Sollers—first dinner May 21—beginning Barthes’s association with the Tel Quel group. Meets Jean Beaufret through the intermediary of Michel Foucault.

  1964: Georges Perec and the Moroccan poet and intellectual Abdelkébir Khatibi attend Barthes’s seminar. Makes the acquaintance of Jacques Derrida in March thanks to Phillipe Sollers. On April 21 attends Jean-Paul Sartre’s lecture on Kierkegaard at UNESCO. On September 19, Pierre Klossowski reads him his Baphomet. Meets Charlotte Delbo through the intermediary of Henri Lefebvre (lunch on December 7 in the company of Jean Baudrillard). First contact with Jean-Luc Godard in December. Makes friends with Jacques Nolot, whom he meets at the Cannes Film Festival, according to Nolot. In 1989 Jacques Nolot will write the screenplay for the film J’embrasse pas (1991), made by André Téchiné, to whom Barthes had introduced him.

  1965: Encounters with Francis Ponge in March, especially at Paule Thévinin’s home. Appearance in autumn of Nouvelle critique ou nouvelle imposture, a violent tract against Barthes’s Sur Racine written by Raymond Picard, Éditions Pauvert. Accepts and then declines to appear in Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard.

  1966: Publishes Critique et verité in response to Picard. On March 19, Barthes
participates in the defense panel for Jean Baudrillard’s thesis, with Henri Lefebvre and Pierre Bourdieu. In March–April, meets Italo Calvino, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Alberto Moravia in Italy. First visit to Japan from May 2 to June 2 at the invitation of his friend Maurice Pinguet. First encounters with Julia Kristeva. Participates in the large colloquium held in Baltimore from October 18 to October 21 at the invitation of René Girard, with Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man, Tzvetan Todorov, Lucien Goldmann, and others. Founds La Quinzaine littéraire with Maurice Nadeau and François Erval.

  1967–68: Second stay in Japan, from March 4 to April 5, 1967. Teaches at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore from September to December. Appearance of Système de la mode. First publication of “La Mort de l’auteur” in Aspen Magazine, an American journal of contemporary and underground art, under the title “The Death of the Author,” published in French the following year. Begins his seminar on Balzac’s Sarrasine. Third stay in Japan from December 17, 1967, to January 11, 1968. Follows the events of May–June 1968 sympathetically but with some remove. With regard to May 1968, writes “L’Écriture de l’événement.” Publishes his first piece on Japan, “Leçon d’écriture,” in Tel Quel (Summer 1968).

  1969: Begins the “Incidents” file that will go through many titles—“Roman,” “Journal-Texte,” “Stromates”—until taking its definitive title in the mid-1970s, “Vita Nova.” Meets Pierre Guyotat.

  1970–71: Teaches at the University of Rabat in Morocco. Becomes friends with Joël Lévy-Corcos. Appearance in 1970 of S/Z and L’Empire des signes.

  1971: Publication of Sade, Fourier, Loyola. Appearance of a special issue of Tel Quel devoted to Barthes. Begins a regular practice of painting and of what he calls “Graphies.” Barthes’s great texts on painting (André Masson, Bernard Réquichot, Leo Steinberg, Cy Twombly, and others) are directly linked to them. Meets Pierre Soulages in May. Becomes friends with André Téchiné. Guest professor in Geneva at the invitation of Jean Starobinski and Jean Rousset, parallel to his teaching at the École Pratique des Hautes Études.