{"product_id":"the-preparation-of-the-novel-9780231136150","title":"The Preparation of the Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eCompleted just weeks before his death, the lectures in this volume mark a critical juncture in the career of Roland Barthes, in which he declared the intention, deeply felt, to write a novel. Unfolding over the course of two years, Barthes engaged in a unique pedagogical experiment: he combined teaching and writing to \"simulate\" the trial of novel-writing, exploring every step of the creative process along the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBarthes's lectures move from the desire to write to the actual decision making, planning, and material act of producing a novel. He meets the difficulty of transitioning from short, concise notations (exemplified by his favorite literary form, haiku) to longer, uninterrupted flows of narrative, and he encounters a number of setbacks. Barthes takes solace in a diverse group of writers, including Dante, whose \u003ci\u003eLa Vita Nuova\u003c\/i\u003e was similarly inspired by the death of a loved one, and he turns to classical philosophy, Taoism, and the works of François-René Chateaubriand, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Kafka, and Marcel Proust. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book uniquely includes eight elliptical plans for Barthes's unwritten novel, which he titled \u003ci\u003eVita Nova\u003c\/i\u003e, and lecture notes that sketch the critic's views on photography. Following on \u003ci\u003eThe Neutral: Lecture Course at the Collège de France (1977-1978)\u003c\/i\u003e and a third forthcoming collection of Barthes lectures, this volume provides an intensely personal account of the labor and love of writing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roland Barthes","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42980475043958,"sku":"9780231136150","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/ingramacademic.com\/products\/the-preparation-of-the-novel-9780231136150","provider":"Ingram Academic \u0026 Professional","version":"1.0","type":"link"}