A review by aarongertler
A Lover's Discourse: Fragments by Roland Barthes

4.0

There is an enormous quantity of good material here, but I am left just barely unsatisfied even after copying many quotes into my collection. I want to learn about the lover satisfied, the lover who gets what they want, the lover who experiences exuberant joy or calm contentment or disappointment or any of the other things that come with actually being bonded to another person. I want to learn about the "object of love" from inside -- what is it like to be loved, to be objectified, to be the *target* of all these gigantic feelings?

Others have written about this, but Barthes' method is unique, and I wish he'd applied his skill for references to the subject of love in its totality -- not merely to the Wertherian hopeless, unconsummated variety.