Roland Barthes: el ensayo y la ética de la evasión

Abstract

In “Les sorties du texte” (1972), taking as a starting point Georges Bataille’s heterological works, Roland Barthes reflects on the writing of the essay, the development of which would keep in step with a loving rhythm which alternates knowledge and value. In the sphere of the essay, a pulsional shift would occur in the transition from the ontological question posed by knowledge to the eccentric question posed by value: “What is this for me?”. In this way, the act of valuation introduces a type of subjectivity which differs from an impressionist or an objective point of view, putting forward a kind of subjectivity that comes from a no-subject; i.e., an uncertain subject. That’s the way Barthes calls himself in the “Leçon” (1977): a subject that is willing to inscribe itself in the discussions the scientific institutions pay attention to, distancing itself from their reproductive impotence; a subject that, for that very reason, could only write essays: that ambiguous genre in which writing confronts analysis. This article’s aim is to delve deeper in these barthesian postulates so as to read “Les sorties du texte” in two concurring levels: thematic and formal, to show the way its composition resonates accurately to the barthesian characterization of the essay.