Cómo vivir juntos. Simulaciones novelescas de algunos espacios cotidianos. Notas de cursos y semenarios en el Collège de France, 1976-1977

by Roland Barthes, Beatriz Sarlo (Translator)

Fascinante reunión de apuntes manuscritos, verdadera cantera que permite seguir a Barthes no sólo en el momento de la exposición sino en el del trabajo previo, estos seminarios excepcionales se publican por primera vez en castellano. Como la obra sobre los pasajes de París permite imaginar a Walter Benjamin, este libro muestra la composición y el armado del pensamiento barthesiano a partir de citas, comentarios, fragmentos, enlazados por un movimiento que conserva la vibración de aquello que ha sido dicho por primera vez, explorando territorios y probando ideas. En Cómo vivir juntos, Barthes nos habla de los anacoretas y de Robinson, de monasterios y de casas, del encierro y de la distancia entre los cuerpos, del alimento, las flores, la suciedad, el vado y los territorios. Preguntas que son, a la vez filosóficas, estéticas e históricas, quedan abiertas, en suspenso, sostenidas por el tejido de las citas.
Barthes había organizado su primer seminario de 1977 según un orden que le interesó siempre: el del alfabeto, que le permite un recorrido en redes, enigmático en un principio, pero que, a medida que transcurren las sesiones, forman una organización porosa y cada vez más significativa. El seminario puede leerse en ese orden, o, al contrario, entrar a él a campo traviesa, siguiendo itinerarios cruzados. En ¿Oué es sostener un discurso?, el segundo seminario de 1977, Barthes vuelve a interrogarse sobre esa noción y también vuelve a Proust y, a través de Proust, sugiere varias entradas a la literatura y los modos en que ella habla.
En su estudio preliminar a este libro, Alan Pauls escribe: “Toda una vida monitoreando los signos del mundo, clasificándolos, desmontándolos, devolviéndoles el espesor, la artifisiosidad, incluso el arte que se empeñan en hacer pasar por naturales, Barthes, que ya tiene 62 años, estrena su cátedra en el College de France comprometiéndose con una sola misión: imaginar. Soñar en voz alta una investigación, como dice en la lección para resumir sus designios pedagógicos.”
BEATRIZ SARLO

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

256 pages, Kindle Edition

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