Writing Degree Zero
Encyclopedia
Writing Degree Zero is a book of literary criticism by Roland Barthes
. First published in 1953, it was Barthes' first full-length book and was intended, as Barthes writes in the introduction, as "no more than an Introduction to what a History of Writing might be."
writers on the grounds that they typically employ conventional literary tropes that are at odds with their expressed revolutionary convictions. Barthes quotes a passage from the communist novelist Roger Garaudy
and comments:
with the initiation of this 'transparent form of speech', specifically Camus' 1942 novel The Stranger
. However, Barthes also praises the novelist and poet Raymond Queneau
for allowing the patterns of spoken speech in his fiction to 'contaminate all the parts of the written discourse', as against Jean-Paul Sartre
, in whose novels only the spoken dialogue resembled spoken language, with the result that naturalness of the dialogue in Sartre's novels resembled 'arias, so to speak, surrounded by long recitatives in an entirely conventional mode of writing.' Barthes ends the book on a literally Utopian note:
as Writing Degree Zero. The Lavers/Smith translation departs from the original in some respects. For example, the opening sentence of the original is "Hébert
ne commençait jamais un numéro du Père Duchêne sans y mettre quelques «foutre» et quelques «bougre»." Literally translated, this reads "Hébert never began a number of Père Duchêne without putting in a few 'fucks and 'buggers", but the Lavers/Smith translation reads as follows: "Hébert, the revolutionary, never began a number of his news-sheet Le Père Duchêne without introducing a sprinkling of obscenities."
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
. First published in 1953, it was Barthes' first full-length book and was intended, as Barthes writes in the introduction, as "no more than an Introduction to what a History of Writing might be."
Structure
Writing Degree Zero is divided into two parts, with a stand-alone introduction. Part One contains four short essays, in which Barthes distinguishes the concept of a 'writing' from that of a 'style' or 'language'. In Part Two, Barthes examines various modes of modern writing and criticises French socialist realistSocialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
writers on the grounds that they typically employ conventional literary tropes that are at odds with their expressed revolutionary convictions. Barthes quotes a passage from the communist novelist Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...
and comments:
"We see that nothing here is given without metaphor, for it must be laboriously borne home to the reader that 'it is well written' (that is, that what he is consuming is Literature)."Against what he describes as 'the well-behaved writing of revolutionaries', Barthes praises the work of writers who 'create a colourless writing, freed from all bondage to a pre-ordained state of language'. Barthes credits Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
with the initiation of this 'transparent form of speech', specifically Camus' 1942 novel The Stranger
The Stranger (novel)
The Stranger or The Outsider is a novel by Albert Camus published in 1942. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of existentialism, though Camus did not consider himself an existentialist; in fact, its content explores various philosophical schools of thought, including absurdism, as...
. However, Barthes also praises the novelist and poet Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
for allowing the patterns of spoken speech in his fiction to 'contaminate all the parts of the written discourse', as against Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
, in whose novels only the spoken dialogue resembled spoken language, with the result that naturalness of the dialogue in Sartre's novels resembled 'arias, so to speak, surrounded by long recitatives in an entirely conventional mode of writing.' Barthes ends the book on a literally Utopian note:
"Feeling permanently guilty of its own solitute, it [literary writing] is none the less an imagination eagerly desiring a felicity [bonheur] of words, it hastens towards a dreamed-of language whose freshness, by a kind of ideal anticipation, might portray the perfection of some AdamicAdamic languageThe Adamic language is, according to certain sects within Abrahamic traditions, the language spoken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, i.e., either the language used by God to address Adam, or the language invented by Adam ....
world where language would no longer be alienated."
Translation
Le degré zéro de l'écriture was translated into English by Annette Lavers and Colin Smith, and the translation was published in 1967 by Jonathan CapeJonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
as Writing Degree Zero. The Lavers/Smith translation departs from the original in some respects. For example, the opening sentence of the original is "Hébert
Jacques Hébert
Jacques René Hébert was a French journalist, and the founder and editor of the extreme radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne during the French Revolution...
ne commençait jamais un numéro du Père Duchêne sans y mettre quelques «foutre» et quelques «bougre»." Literally translated, this reads "Hébert never began a number of Père Duchêne without putting in a few 'fucks and 'buggers", but the Lavers/Smith translation reads as follows: "Hébert, the revolutionary, never began a number of his news-sheet Le Père Duchêne without introducing a sprinkling of obscenities."
See also
- Le Mondes 100 Books of the CenturyLe Monde's 100 Books of the CenturyThe 100 Books of the Century is a grading of the books considered as the hundred best of the 20th century, drawn up in the spring of 1999 through a poll conducted by the French retailer Fnac and the Paris newspaper Le Monde....
- Cape EditionsCape EditionsThe Cape Editions are a selection of short books, frequently in translation, issued by UK publisher Jonathan Cape from 1967–1971.The collection has been described as "the remarkable Cape Editions series of seminal modern texts: poetry, prose, anthropology, drama, many of them pioneering...