How to Live Together: Novelistic Simulations of Some Everyday Spaces

by Roland Barthes, Kate Briggs (Translator)

In The Preparation of the Novel , a collection of lectures delivered at a defining moment in Roland Barthes's career (and completed just weeks before his death), the critic spoke of his struggle to discover a different way of writing and a new approach to life. The Neutral preceded this work, containing Barthes's challenge to the classic oppositions of Western thought and his effort to establish new pathways of meaning. How to Live Together predates both of these achievements, a series of lectures exploring solitude and the degree of contact necessary for individuals to exist and create at their own pace. A distinct project that sets the tone for his subsequent lectures, How to Live Together is a key introduction to Barthes's pedagogical methods and critical worldview.

In this work, Barthes focuses on the concept of "idiorrhythmy," a productive form of living together in which one recognizes and respects the individual rhythms of the other. He explores this phenomenon through five texts that represent different living spaces and their associated ways of Émile Zola's Pot-Bouille , set in a Parisian apartment building; Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain , which takes place in a sanatorium; André Gide's La Séquestrée de Poitiers , based on the true story of a woman confined to her bedroom; Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe , about a castaway on a remote island; and Pallidius's Lausiac History , detailing the ascetic lives of the desert fathers.

As with his previous lecture books, How to Live Together exemplifies Barthes's singular approach to teaching, in which he invites his audience to investigate with him―or for him―and wholly incorporates his listeners into his discoveries. Rich with playful observations and suggestive prose, How to Live Together orients English-speaking readers to the full power of Barthes's intellectual adventures.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, France, 20th Century, Literary Criticism, Cultural Studies

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2002

About the author

Roland Barthes of France applied semiology, the study of signs and symbols, to literary and social criticism.

Ideas of Roland Gérard Barthes, a theorist, philosopher, and linguist, explored a diverse range of fields. He influenced the development of schools of theory, including design, anthropology, and poststructuralism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_...

Reviews

[Alf Bojórquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una cascada de ideas, mucho más denso que una lluvia. A mí me sirvió para pensar el ritmo individual, aunque tomé anotes durante toda la lectura, es muy rico, complicado e interesante.

[Julie Capell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this as part of my search for books that talk about people living together and honestly, if it weren't for the title, I'm not sure I would have realized what was the main theme of this work. It's extremely dense, scholarly to the point of being nearly incomprehensible, and utterly disjointed (to call it experimental would be generous).

In structure, it is a series of lectures, but really, it's only the lecturer's notes, with many sentence fragments and notations in place of words. Barthes chose pertinent traits related to the theme of "living together" and presented these traits in alphabetical order so that they "would not be inlfeted with a predetermined overall meaning." I would argue this method of presentation obscured the overall meaning almost entirely. Honestly, one reads/consults experts precisely BECAUSE they are able to bring order to the chaos, but apparently Barthes would not agree.

Despite the disorder, I did read the whole thing, sensing there were some fascinating ideas here if only I were smart enough to find them. Barthes presents "idiorrhythmy"--where people live together but according to their own rhythm--as a concept growing out of various monastic traditions across the centuries. In some traditions, monks lives are highly regulated (rhythmic) but in others, particularly Eastern traditions, monks are free to live at their own particular rhythm. There's flexibility in terms of where you eat, but usually all monks are expected to join together in a communal meal at some regular interval (weekly, monthly, annually). Even prayers are optional. To have idiorrhythmy, Barthes contends there should be "a negative relationship to power" (ie no abbot in the monastery). One solution to the power vacuum is to have people take turns "ruling" but that can cause "chaos, frictions, conflicts."

At one point Barthes examines how people fantasize about choosing a group of people they would want to live together with. He then points out that by choosing some people, others are necessarily excluded. How do we justify these "pariahs?" He notes that even in being rejected, these individuals retain a sort of status in the community.

His studies of different monastic groups show that the optimal number of members in an idiorrhythmic group is somewhere between ten and thirty. But even in tightly knit groups, each individual needs space--interindividual distance. We want to be surrounded by a few people, but not too many.

In sum, I found a few takeaways about how to live together, but I fear I was unable to comprehend about 90% of this strange book.

If you're looking for a really accessible and interesting book about co-living, pick up Group Living and Other Recipes: A Memoir.

[rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Breakfast is a garment."

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review to come, soon I hope....

[alla · Rating 4 out of 5]

я так и не поняла, как жить вместе, но это вроде ничего, потому что барт и сам такой цели перед собой не ставил