Wednesday, February 20, 2008

4

4) Here, Barthes invokes the language of consumption and capital. (+/- #1) Literature is conceived of as a good or service, marketable by an “institution” and “consumed” by its readership. This is a language that denies literature its potential to be mentally liberating, or enjoyable outside the realm of capitalism. The “magic” and “pleasure” belong now to the signifiers and the act of writing. The literature itself is, instead, a labor: “work.” (DIG #1)

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