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geoffdgeorge's review against another edition
"Punctum." Probably the most memorable word and concept I took away from all my different film classes as an undergrad.
herm333s's review against another edition
4.0
4 1/2
Barthes filosofa sobre la fotografía en relación a lo verdadero, al tiempo y al recuerdo, y como al tomar una fotografía hay un pequeño momento de muerte. El autor ata conceptos técnicos del proceso fotográfico con un aspecto personal sobre la muerte de su madre y los efectos de la foto en su memoria de ella, muy interesante y conmovedor.
"La Fotografía es violenta no porque muestre violencias, sino porque cada vez llena a la fuerza la vista y porque en ella nada puede ser rechazado ni transformado (el que a veces pueda afirmarse de ella que es dulce no contradice su violencia; muchos dicen que el azúcar es dulce, pero yo encuentro el azúcar violento)."
Barthes filosofa sobre la fotografía en relación a lo verdadero, al tiempo y al recuerdo, y como al tomar una fotografía hay un pequeño momento de muerte. El autor ata conceptos técnicos del proceso fotográfico con un aspecto personal sobre la muerte de su madre y los efectos de la foto en su memoria de ella, muy interesante y conmovedor.
"La Fotografía es violenta no porque muestre violencias, sino porque cada vez llena a la fuerza la vista y porque en ella nada puede ser rechazado ni transformado (el que a veces pueda afirmarse de ella que es dulce no contradice su violencia; muchos dicen que el azúcar es dulce, pero yo encuentro el azúcar violento)."
casparb's review against another edition
4.0
Barthes managed to make an analysis of the philosophy of Photography incredibly tender.
I do love Barthes as a theorist - he's always self-aware enough to make things readable, one has a sense all the while that he writes on literature, or in this case, photography, because he loves it, not because he has IDEAS about it. (he does have clever ideas but one doesn't understand that to be why he writes).
His reflections on photography (an art? a science? neither? that is for the best) wind their way into a dissection of memory: his thoughts become autobiographical, as he attempts to recall his mother from amongst the pictures he has of her. This section is so delicate - I think much of the emotion here is informed by the knowledge that Barthes died the same week he finished this book, so when he ruminates upon his own death, photographs of himself, there's a deeply bittersweet sense that he knew (somehow) that it would be soon.
I suppose it's just not often one comes across a literary theorist that thinks of the heart.
I do love Barthes as a theorist - he's always self-aware enough to make things readable, one has a sense all the while that he writes on literature, or in this case, photography, because he loves it, not because he has IDEAS about it. (he does have clever ideas but one doesn't understand that to be why he writes).
His reflections on photography (an art? a science? neither? that is for the best) wind their way into a dissection of memory: his thoughts become autobiographical, as he attempts to recall his mother from amongst the pictures he has of her. This section is so delicate - I think much of the emotion here is informed by the knowledge that Barthes died the same week he finished this book, so when he ruminates upon his own death, photographs of himself, there's a deeply bittersweet sense that he knew (somehow) that it would be soon.
I suppose it's just not often one comes across a literary theorist that thinks of the heart.
jeannepirouette's review against another edition
5.0
Fjejebejenkdvgjelzlzz (tout ce que j’ai à dire)
gingerliss's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting, short but dense. Will reread at some point.
jamorley's review against another edition
4.0
Barthes hated: having his picture taken, the unury photograph, cousins
Barthes loved: the sound of a mechanic shutter, his mum.
An interesting perspective on the link between photography and death. Barthes champions a purely subjective mode of seeing as the only way to uncover (or create) the punctum that gives a photograph its worth, while the studium—the objective meaning—is relegated to the status of "usual blah-blah."
He agrees with Sontag that the proliferation of photographic images "completely de-realizes the human world of conflicts and desires, under cover of illustrating it."
Barthes loved: the sound of a mechanic shutter, his mum.
An interesting perspective on the link between photography and death. Barthes champions a purely subjective mode of seeing as the only way to uncover (or create) the punctum that gives a photograph its worth, while the studium—the objective meaning—is relegated to the status of "usual blah-blah."
He agrees with Sontag that the proliferation of photographic images "completely de-realizes the human world of conflicts and desires, under cover of illustrating it."