‘A Lovers Discourse- a reply’

This is a reply to Roland Barthes ‘A Lover’s Discourse’. The original text sees Barthes writing about a single figure and the nature of their internal discourse caused by the ‘other’. The protagonist is sometimes present, sometimes absent, sometimes imagined.

The book is not organised in a linear narrative or in some form of philosophical hierarchy which moves clearly through varies levels of thought. Instead it is disjointed musings, displayed as fragments, on the condition in question. The fragments are organised alphabetically to provide a structure which does not turn the text into a singular doctrine.

The further I reached into the book the more I realised that numerous threads seem, to me anyway, to link into concerns in some of my paintings; these being predominantly desire and the single male figure and its relation to a female protagonist.

It feels important to try and make sense of the thoughts that emerged from the text. These vary from direct analyse of specific ideas to the development of an idea which derived as a tangent of reading the book but which has, perhaps, broken totally from the book as a source.

At this point I feel that the thoughts would be restricted if I either worked through them chronologically (as they came about within the book) or into some thematically (as this could limit the scope of them to what I think, in a preconceived manner, they are about.) So it seems logical to mirror Barthes. To take the fragments which have emerged as a deconstruction and reaction to the text and to reorder them alphabetically, under titles which loosely summarise the theme/content of the particular thought.

A-Z

Absent…

…to not be present at the event.

Barthes states that the process of absence is a result of a one way system. One always remains and the other leaves. The one left is presented with emptiness.

The coding of such a dialogue is no longer gender specific.

Abyss…

…is something that is immeasurably deep or infinite, reaching beyond the visible.

The abyss is the stage of the annihilation. It is our location after our previous, actual geography has been eradicated. It is a venue without coordinates in which we stand, scramble and eternally fall within. The abyss is an emotion.

Acceptance…

…the realization of a fact or truth and the process of coming to terms with it

The acceptance of the others flaws and nature is the only way for a union to exist honestly. Equally it is the root of our frustration that the ideal does not exist. It is the exact opposite of projection.

Acrobat…

…a performer of gymnastic feats as entertainment

We are acrobats, gymnastically flinging ourselves about, squirming and vomiting one limb over the other.

Amnesia…

…is the loss of memory

Temporary amnesia is a self inflicted defence system. Is we do not half erase the absent other than we lay ourselves down to be devoured entirely by its impact.

Analysis…

… the examination of something in detail in order to understand it better or draw conclusions from it/ the separation of something into its constituents in order to find out what it contains, to examine individual parts, or to study the structure of the whole

We present over analysis as a gift when it is a curse. The lovers analysis does not actual uncover any truth. The deconstruction and dissection just succeeds in taking the desire apart. Like a glass jar broken and the liquid contents poured away, we can reconstruct it, but it is an empty vessel thereafter.

The pedantry of this scientific experiment becomes both a murder and an autopsy.

Annihilation…

…is the complete destruction of something

Barthes describes annihilation as something which ‘sweeps through’ us, interrupting an otherwise calm or happy state. It acts as a process of erasing, crumbling the self before us as we are drowned, engulf and succumb to the powers of longing or desire. It causes a paralysis to all outside of itself. The self is ‘annihilated’.

Anxiety…

…nervousness or agitation, often about something that is going to happen

Barthes, accurately it seems to me, situates anxiety as the effect of the lover who finds themselves alone. The anxiety is a response to the absence (whether permanent or temporary) of the other.

This anxiety seems an apt thing to be conveyed in painting; the moment in flux, the sense of something constantly about to happen, the agitation of the silence and stillness. The solitary lover remains forever anxious.

Barthes also notes a form of anxiety when the other is present. This is an anxiety over the future divorce and separation. It is a premonition of the eventual death or lose. Barthes states that this is a form of mourning, for the passing has a certain tragic inevitability brought about the moment the relationship was first formed. Its joining is the cause of its separation.

Aphonic…

…loss of the power of speech. This may be as a result of injury or disease of the larynx or mouth or may arise from various psychological conditions

The other produces in us a desire to articulate some new found feeling. Yet the very production of this feeling blocks up our throat and ties up our tongue.

Artifice…

… the deception of people using cleverness or subtlety

The discourse is like any structure, self constructed and false, capable of collapsing at anytime. It is no different to any form of idealism or belief system, its foundations are far less stable than the myopic doctrine implies.

Asphyxia…

…is suffocation as a result of physical blockage of the airway or inhalation of toxic gases, causing a lack of oxygen and unconsciousness.

Asphyxiation is the result of the hysteria caused by the other absence. Our head is held underwater without the silence of having been drowned. It is a noisy, melodramatic strangulation of the air waves.

Banquet…

…an elaborate formal meal attended by many guests, often held in honour of a particular person or occasion and followed by speeches

Love is a banquet. We arrive hungrily, smartly dressed and honour the formalities and rituals of the feast. We devour the other.

The lover, however, cannot remain civilised. The discourse has an inevitable and inextricable path towards epicurean decadence. Like the Roman empire we succumb to our own greed.

This is what love sickness is; the violently, writhing, squirming vomit of excessive and egotistical delights. After the Bacchanal comes the fall, and the weight of the hangover crushes us, and the mass of the sickness drowns us. Our backbone, no longer a sign of control, becomes a blade which literally slices us from within. This is self disembowelment.

The suffering is as pathetically and needlessly excessive as the feast.

Body…

…the complete material structure or physical form of a human being or animal

Barthes describes viewing the others body as ‘fetishizing a corpse’. The body, in itself, is an inert container, merely a material structure which the other fills. It provides a vehicle for the cause and a stage for the expression of our desire.

Catastrophe…

…an absolute failure, often in humiliating or embarrassing circumstances. A terrible disaster or accident, especially one that leads to great loss of life.

Barthes compares the panic situations and catastrophes of the lover to that of an inmate in Dachau. He ponders, rightly, the morality of such an excessive comparison. The lovers catastrophe is surely ‘trivial’ in comparison to the historically level of horror in Dachau.

Yet the lovers catastrophe is equally a disaster where the spring has been stretched beyond the point of no return. It is equally one, at least in sensation, of total and eternal lose.

Such an excess of emotion is both explained and shown up as pathetic, egotistical and embarrassing by the singularity of the experience.

Collapse…

… to fall down suddenly, generally as a result of damage, structural weakness, or lack of support

The other becomes our support, our structure, our foundation. The lose of this support leads to a collapse.

Cynic…

…somebody who believes that human actions are insincere and motivated by self-interest

The cynic and the romantic are binary oppositions whose dialogue sits constantly beneath the lovers discourse. The cynics logic is challenged by the romantics idealism, and vice versa. Transience vs transcendence, idealism vs realism, the wall vs the window, they are the architecture on which the other both exists and is destroyed.
Delirium…

…a state marked by extreme restlessness, confusion, and sometimes hallucinations, caused by fever, poisoning, or brain injury

‘Amorous passion is delirium states Barthes. He is talking of the restlessness, the exhaustion and the strain which is an inevitable cause of every facet of the lovers discourse. The cause is psychological the effect physical. We are drained by the other. We are infected with a sickness that results in a fever.

Desire…

…is to want something very strongly, often with sexual overtones.

The figure of desire, Barthes tells us, has raised arms. It is one half of the two ideograms of the text of absence. The other is need. We fluctuate between the phallic raised arms and the childish open arms, between the need for a mother and the desire for a lover.

Denial…

…a statement saying that something is not true or not correct

Barthes talks of the attempt at one last embrace, an hysterical attempt to breathe life back into the corpse of the other and the death of the relationship. He calls this ‘performing a denial of separation.’

We are constantly acting, playing out such a series of denials behind a series of masks and hopefully embraces. Letting go is hard.

Devotion…

…deep love and commitment

We shower the other with gifts, as if the visa card can buy them. But in truth the only present of worth is the devotion of the self, mentally and physically and over time. Such devotion sees us put ourselves out for sacrifice, risking the wound.

We give our heart as the ultimate gift. We place it in there hands, blood soaked and warm, pumping away. It is only when they drop it that we feel the sensation of our chest being opened up and beating organ ripped from inside.

Clothes…

…garments that cover the body

Barthes sees our dressing as a ritualistic act, performed in preparation for the other. He compares it to the prisoner’s preparations before being sent to the scaffold or the butcher’s preparation of a piece of meat before its presentation for sale. I see it as a social constructed, cultural inscribed, ritualistic transmutation. We construct ourselves a peacock’s tail.

This whole process is the most visible manifestation of the disguises we construct.

Embrace…

… to hug somebody in your arms affectionately or passionately.

The embrace is a simple but powerful symbol. It is the physical embodiment and confirmation of the lovers union. The embrace comes in many flavours.

The embrace, however, must always end. Adonis broke from Venus, his mortal urges and the feverish pull of the dogs dragging him to a bloody end. Titian understood the tragedy of the embrace, using it as a visual equivalent of the failed plea from Ovid’s Venus.

Ennui…

…weariness and dissatisfaction with life that results from a loss of interest or sense of excitement

Ennui comes after melancholy. It is a result of the void left by the other.

Epicurean…

…relating to the philosophy of Epicureanism, one devoted to sensual pleasures and luxury, especially good food.

The other is our food. We gorge on them until we are morbidly obese. They are our single bacchanal, our source of debaucherous consumption and decadence.

Equilibrium…

…is a state or situation in which opposing forces or factors balance each other out and stability is attained.

Love seeks equilibrium; the discourse is the working out towards an ideal balance. Yet the formation and evolution of the discourse is formed, and necessitates, a disruption to equilibrium. Language, our situation, our being needs to be ripped opened and spread apart. The equilibrium only has a power if it comes from an explosion of chaos. It has to be formed, not merely stumbled across.

Exhaustion…

… a state of extreme physical or mental tiredness or collapse/ the process of using up the entire stock or contents of something

The other, the discourse, the whole process exhausts us. It drains us from a series of angles. Our collapse is inevitable.

Farewell…

…an act of leaving or an activity marking somebody’s departure

And so the most clichéd of Shakespearian oxymoron’s goes, ‘parting is such sweet sorrow.’ On such tragic paradoxes the lovers discourse is built. The pleasure of the other is the pain of their departure, whether fleeting or permanent. It is the announcement of a divorce which heralds a void. The exit the stage and a chapter of absence arrives. The narrative of the discourse insists upon this.

Fades…

… to lose brightness, colour, or loudness gradually, or make something do this

Barthes describes the other as an image to which we attach meaning. He talks of the image withdrawing into infinity and fading.

This image is one we chase, like Apollo chasing Daphne. It is the antithesis of the zombie in an old horror flick, the one who walks slowing but manages to gain ground on the fleeing victim. In this instance the victim seems to drift off and our desperate chase seems to replicate the fallen contender in the TV series ‘Gladiator’, unable to get to the top of the ‘travalator’ however hard they run. Meanwhile the other, like an autumn leaf, fades into the distance.

Fatigue…

… extreme tiredness or weariness resulting from physical or mental activity

The discourse is extremely tiring.

Fetish…

…an object, idea, or activity that somebody is irrationally obsessed with or attached to.

When the lovers discourse becomes a monologue of desire then they are transformed into an object. The object becomes a fetish and a possession.

Fulfilment…

… reflexive verb to feel satisfied with what you are doing or realize your expectations or ambitions

The greedy lover is only fulfilled when almost vomiting from the excess and overflow of emotion and experience brought about by the other. It is so dense, so rich that it almost suffocates and chokes us.

When this epicurean experience rests, to give us a break, we feel relief. Yet in an instant relief turns to a feeling of utter emptiness.

The cliché of love as a drug is appropriate. It’s a drug which consumes, which destroys us on consumption but which our body can’t cope without.

Futile…

… having no practical effect or useful result

To avoid the process of falling in love or the inevitability of its transience is futile. There is a tragic inevitability to the various episodes of the lover’s narrative. The causal progression is defined the moment the seed is laid.

Game…

…a sporting or other activity in which players compete against each other by following a fixed set of rules

It seems a shame that the success of the discourse is based on our ability to take part in a set of games for which we do not know the rules.

Ghost…

…is a faint trace of the individual who was previously alive; the physical incarnation of the spirit.

When absent the lover does, or has to, become a ghost. They are not dead but merely left suspended, placed by us in limbo. They are not here but they are not gone. This ghost can haunt us, we cannot grasp the other or let go of them. This longing is the paradox of their absence.

Greed…

…the habit of eating to excess, or the desire to do so

The discourse is one of epicurean greed, an overload of emotion making use morbidly obese. We expect so much from the other that any let up seems frugal.

He/She…

…used to refer to a male/female person or animal that has been previously mentioned or whose identity is known

Barthes laments the use of the third person pronoun to describe the other. It is as if such an act reduces them to a mere fragment of a wider society. This knowledge, this truth, annuls and desecrates the vision we have of them in our head. It destroys the idealism of their singular and unique place in our own personal sociological hierarchy. Barthes accurately states that ‘for me the other cannot be a referent.’

Heart…

… a hollow muscular organ that pumps blood around the body, in humans situated in the centre of the chest with its apex directed to the left.

Barthes calls the Heart the ‘Organ of desire’, comparing its swelling to that of a sexual organ.

The heart pulses, the heart fills, swells and expands. It becomes cloying, heavy and full of fast paced anxiety during the emotional athleticism of the lovers dialogue. The heart is the organ which both aids and causes the emotional, psychological and physical acrobatics, from frustration to fulfilment.

The heart can be heavy, empty or hollow.

The heart is protected by a strong rib cage and layers of muscle and flesh. Yet the other is capable of incising, penetrating and lacerating the cage which protects this beating epicentre. They are capable of ripping through the rib cage violently, reaching an arm down through our mouth and throat to grab a hold of it or silently sneaking in through the back; slicing us open with our own backbone which we sacrificed in an act of all encompassing giving.

The spine is given to the other as a sign of devotion and then used as a blade to slice us open.

Hysteria…

…is an emotional and psychological state brought about by a traumatic experience. It is a state of instability, exaggerated expression and panic.

The lovers hysteria is unique. It is a solitary hysteria rather than a communal one. The other is always the protagonist of this hysteria; it is something we are seduced into. There is a tragic inevitability about its arrival.

Hysteria precedes melancholy. It is the unresolved state we are left in when the lover has not yet been confirmed, metaphorically, as dead. It is the panic of not knowing and melancholy the acceptance of knowing.

Hysteria is the instinctive, excessive, reaction to the loss of the other. It is a cry for attention as that is what has been lost. It is an attempt to fill a gapping hole in seconds, with pity and guilt.

Isolation…

…the process of separating somebody or something from others, or the fact of being alone and separated from others

Barthes talks of the perpetual problem of outside forces, of the curtain rising to reveal a ‘crowded theatre’ not an ‘intimate stage’. The outside intrudes, chucking in obstacles and dilemmas. These arrows wound and injure and unbalance the previous equilibrium. They show the discourses pretence of stability up and reveal its fragility.

If only we could exist in a bubble, in isolation, separated from all outside forces and circumstances. Lost in each other and never needing to break from the embrace. Never has isolation sounded so desirable.

Jealously…

… feeling suspicious about a rival’s or competitor’s influence, especially in regard to a loved one

Our jealousy is the product of the fact that no love is absolute and exclusive. There is always the danger of an interruption caused by an outside force.

Jealousy is both the product of our love and the cause of its end. It is a cruel joke of an emotion.

Language…

…the human use of spoken or written words as a communication system

Speech and words are blunt tools in the lovers discourse. They articulate nothing more than their impotence. They are a mask of white noise.

Little Death…
…A notion described by the French to encapsulate the chemical, emotional and psychological state induced by an orgasm.

The little death is a moment of solitary confinement. It induces a state of utter clarity. The wound of such realisation can leave us feeling utterly empty.

Loquacious…

… tending to talk a great deal

The discourse is a waffle. We entrap the other and ourselves in a stream of consciousness, so driven by emotion, that it is nonsense. It is a language which starts as charming and soon bores in its inability to articulate anything. It is a non language.

Logic…

…sensible rational thought and argument rather than ideas that are influenced by emotion or whim

The lovers discourse is not devoid of logic. Barthes says, ‘we rationalize, I reason…to avoid certain injuries.’ Logic is the defence system we install to avoid the inevitable wounds.

Madness…

…psychiatric disorder

To be in love is to be insane. We succumb to the other and forsake logic and control. It is a romanticised dismissal of civilised behaviour. We no longer confine ourselves to socially expectable codes of conduct. Inevitably it is this madness, and loss of clarity and control, which ensures the destruction of the discourse. The depth of our desire forces us to both scare and consume the other.

Melancholy…

…a thoughtful or gentle sadness

The melancholy is the mourning.

The lover is prone to bouts of melancholy when confronted with absence. Melancholy arrives during a temporary absence or after the melodramatic chapter which follows a permanent divorce of the lovers union.

Melancholy is the calm, the quiet and inward acceptance, a silent and internalised mourning.

Melodrama…

…a dramatic or other literary work characterized by the use of stereotyped characters, exaggerated emotions and language, simplistic morality, and conflict

The melodrama is the suffering.

Melodrama is the theatrical response to some form of catastrophe (or event we classify as a catastrophe) caused by the other. It lacks all reason or sense of relative emotional judgement. It is a pathetic, squirming cry for help. It is the excess which we gorge on to supplement the vacuum left by the others absence. It is only after a violent bout of vomiting that melancholy can follow.

Mourning…

…the feeling or showing of deep sadness following somebody’s death

We mourn the others absence or the relationships end as if there has been a death. We mourn the end of an embrace or intercourse with a little death which leaves us feeling empty.

Monologue…

…a long tedious uninterrupted speech during a conversation

Barthes speaks of ‘perpetual monologues’, as if a condition of the suffering lover.

Myopic…

…lack of foresight or long-term planning.

The lover is not blind, merely inflicted by myopia. They can only live for the now and they cannot see anything outside of the other.

Narcissus…

…the Greek myth, as told by Ovid an others.

In the lovers narrative we become many characters, but always Narcissus. Our tragedy is that we find reflections in everything. Every event or object becomes a mirror in on which to project ourselves or from which we can contrive some emotion. Everything becomes a river into which we allow ourselves to fall and drown. The ego knows no bounds in its shameless pity.

Narrative…

…a story or an account of a sequence of events in the order in which they happened

Love has a narrative, a curving line but one with a start and an end. The lover attempts to pause this shifting landscape and hold the moment in flux for eternity.

Need…

…is a verb which states that we require something in order to have success or achieve a goal

The figure of need, Barthes tells us, has wide open arms. It is one half of the two ideograms of the text of absence. The other is desire. We fluctuate between the phallic raised arms and the childish open arms, between the need for a mother and the desire for a lover.

Object…

…something that can be seen or touched

The other is an object. We require an object in order for our sensations and emotions of desire to be able to exist. The other becomes a vessel, a tangible physical thing, into which we can pour or onto which can project these feelings. It is the feelings, which are a product of the self, and not the other, which we are in love with. It is a selfish, egotistical and narcissistic sensation hiding under the guise and incarnation of altruism.

Obscene…

…offensive to conventional standards of decency, especially by being sexually explicit

The lover’s reactions are often obscene in the excess of emotion. Its like some emotional orgy with a cast of one.

Paradox…

…a statement, proposition, or situation that seems to be absurd or contradictory, but in fact is or may be true.

The lovers discourse is full of paradoxes. As Barthres points out, we can be both ‘simultaneously and contradictorily happy and wretched’.

This is the discourse crying out a denial of logic. It ensures any clear sighted rational of its program is annihilated.

Projection…

…the projecting of an image or picture on a surface

The ideal which we project onto the other, which we desire, is not what they are. This fancy is doomed to failure. It’s in direct opposition to acceptance.

Puppet…

…a doll or figure representing a person or animal that is moved using the hands inside the figure or by moving rods, strings, or wires attached to it

We are the puppet and the other the puppeteer. An inanimate object brought to life by the invisible strings pulled by the every word, movement and act of the other. Without them we are just a crumpled piece of fabric.

Repression…

… in Freudian psychology, a mechanism by which people protect themselves from threatening thoughts by blocking them out of the conscious mind

We are repressed by language, we are repressed by the other, we are repressed by our own desire.

This self enforced repression (even when the product of an exterior force it is something we have allowed) is a defence mechanism. We fear, from past knowledge, the wound and the mourning.

We protect ourselves with a rip cage and layers of flesh to keep them from our heart. Yet unless we undress the repression then we cannot open the sensation or the discourse.

Routine…

…a rehearsed set of movements, actions, or speeches that make up a performance.

When the discourse becomes a routine it is dead. When it succumbs to a preordained order and system it is over. This solidity is not stability but paralysis, lifelessness; an inert corpse and at best rigor mortis.

Seduction…

…something that tempts, persuades, or attracts

The other seduces us. The other frustrates us. Barthes believes the other alternates between these actions. Like a shift from intimate tenderness to cold and dismissive.

See…

… transitive and intransitive verb to perceive, or perceive something, with the eyes

As Barthes points out, the lover put far to much value into images, happier to believe in what they see than what they know. Our paranoia creates self fulfilling links between vision and facts.

Silence…

…a refusal, failure, or inability to speak

The repression or paralysis of expression is the only potent and articulate form of expression.

Solutions…

…the process of resolving a difficulty or finding the answer to a puzzle or question.

Barthes asks: what is the solution to the ‘amorous crisis’? A crisis is a problem which needs a solution. A solution is arrived at through a methodology, logic, a system and a scientific analysis. No such clear or linear resolution can be found within the lovers discourse.

Instead we need to find more dramatic end points, withdrawals, divorces or suicides. Barthes puts it more eloquently when he says: ‘The lovers discourse is in a sense a series of No Exits’.

Stoicism…

… emotional indifference, especially admirable patience and endurance shown in the face of adversity

Stoicism is a mask of denial.

Barthes talks of wearing dark glasses, the process of hiding elements of our suffering from both the other and the general public. He speaks of a dilemma in knowing how to balance the display and concealment of grief. It appears the heroic and honourable thing to hide and deny our despair.

The dark glasses do this while still speaking of an unseen mourning. We present indiscretion but we openly display it as a mask. Thus they ensure we do not appear cold and dead to emotion whilst also appearing capable of restraint. It’s a ritualistic form of emotional manners, I suppose. It allows us in Barthes words to be ‘both pathetic and admirable’.

Stoicism, in this sense, is actually a more potent display of grief. Consider Brutus in David’s ‘Brutus’ 1789. His restraint speaks the outer body controlling and inner agony, it’s far more moving than the outward display of grief shown by the females on the right hand side.

Structure…

…a system or organization made up of interrelated parts functioning as a whole

In the discourse the Love seeks to deny the structure, to work against its geometry, its rigidity, its solidity. At least it tries to.

In reality the fragile lover is defined by an existence within the context and confines of the structure. The interplay and denial is an essential dialogue, but one which needs to exist. The structure, therefore, is an essential element of the discourse.

Stupid…

…regarded as showing a lack of intelligence, perception, or common sense

“What is stupider than a lover?” asks Barthes, almost rhetorically. In truth the lovers inability to filter information, to process logically the facts of the amorous situation, or to judge the other objectively leaves him crippled; a retard and a paralytic.

Swooning…

…is to experience a sudden and usually brief loss of consciousness

The swoon is a tactic of diversion. We allow ourselves to fall temporarily out of consciousness to avoid the intensity of the experience of annihilation and the abyss. It is the appearance of being overcome by emotion in order to avoid being suffocated by it. The swoon is like the circuit breaker, cutting the flow of electricity before something blows.

Talking…

…to speak, or express something using speech

The lover is loquacious, endlessly vomiting emotions in badly packaged poetics. We drown the other in words and suffocate ourselves.

Tears…

…a single drop of salty fluid secreted by the lacrimal gland of the eye.

We cry in order to provide tangible and visible evidence of our supposed inner turmoil. The tear is both the most honest and the most dishonest of signs displayed by the lover.

Texts…

…an sms, a worded message sent from one mobile phone to another.

Barthes talks of the experience of waiting by the phone. The equivalent seems to be waiting by the mobile, hoping for the flash to confirm the reply to a text.

It is such a mundane act yet it seems indicative of the whole discourse. We offer out something and we await the reply. The whole discourse is built and survives on what is, in many forms, just a discussion.

Theatre…

… a building, room, or other setting where plays or other dramatic presentations are performed

The lovers discourse is a theatrical performance which we produce direct and play the central character; that is prone to excessive monologues. We are also the entire audience.

Touch…

… to put a part of the body, especially the fingertips, in contact with the other so as to feel them

The first touch is the unspoken dialogue. It is the confirmation of affection. The statement, slight but bold, is also a question. It waits a response in the form of a returned touch, the slight shift of a body as a sign of acceptance or denial.

Transience…

…lasting for only a short time and quickly coming to an end, disappearing, or changing

Transience is the most inevitable tragedy of life and love. The cynic within the lover has to remind the romantic of this fact. Keats dreamed of the eternalised moment in musing on the Grecian Urn. Yet he eventually concedes the falseness of the idealism and the artifice of the art. He instead has to except that the moment only has a reality in life, and in life the moment ends. Time always has its way.

Tragedy…

…is the heroic struggle which inevitably ends in the downfall of the central character.

The lovers discourse has a tragic inevitability at its core.

The other is the protagonist. There very presence sows a seed for a narrative of rise and fall. The laws of the discourse are like those of physics, they mirror the transience of time and the downward force of gravity on an ascending object.

Venus and Adonis are the archetype, from her plea of a grasp to his last gasp.

Tragedy II…

……is the heroic struggle which inevitably ends in the downfall of the central character.

Tragedy appears in many guises, each embodiment intrinsically different in type.

The tragedy of life is the passing of time, transience and the inevitability of death.

The tragedy in literature mirrors this, the narrative plot unfolding through word over line, unveiling the inevitable end which is the prerequisite of the seed laid down at the start. Both Shakespeare and Ted Hughes spring to mind.

Photographic tragedy is the has been of the moment, a melancholic reminder of the constant little deaths of now. That moment is held forever but is forever past.

The tragedy of painting is related to the beauty of the eternalising of an ideal moment, the two lovers, in Keat’s Grecian urn, who are forever about to kiss. Yet the tragedy comes in that the moment in flux may never end but it is intrinsically false. It is a constructed fiction. As soon as we romanticise it the picture reveals itself, reminding us of its construction. It crumbles in front of us, its artificiality revealed.

The only constant in these various types of tragedy is that the lovers discourse tends to be its most frequent subject. The lovers discourse is a flexible one, able to sit within the formal frameworks of any of these types.

Value…

…is the measurable weight and meaning of something.

The word love is a value. It is a game of linguistics. It gives us a marker, a pot, to fill with an abstract set of circumstances and emotions. It has a personal value as well as a more heavily loaded cultural and historical value. We like to believe the two are symbiotic, they are not.

We need to ascribe our feelings with a linguistic value in order to make sense of them. The value is the pinnacle of an artificially constructed system we create. We are classical romantics forming a tightly structured idealism from a mass of fluid chaos.

Victim…

… somebody who or something that is adversely affected by an action or circumstance

We tell ourselves we are victim to a circumstance. We tell ourselves we are victim to the others actions. We console ourselves that the reception of such forces is outside of our direct control, and we are therefore absolved from blame. We lease us in a position to justify our pathetic self pity.

In truth we are the victim of our own actions. This is far harder to swallow. Barthes correctly points out that we are both victim and executioner.

Waiting…

…to stay in one place or do nothing for a period of time until something happens or in the expectation or hope that something will happen

Waiting, Barthes says, is what the lover seems to be constantly doing. We are waiting for some mundane form of communication and acceptance from the other.

Waiting is the chief protagonist of our anxiety and excess waiting is the source of repressed hysteria. Generally waiting is a calmer more melancholic form of suffering.

We wait, held in limbo, a long pregnant pause in the lovers discourse.

Wander…

…to move from place to place, either without a purpose or without a known destination

When a true love dies we are left to wander. We drift from love to love, like a meandering river. The true love has provided an absolute value by which we measure, in relative terms, all which follows. Until a new absolute value is formed we are left wandering.

Writing…

…words or other symbols such as hieroglyphics written down as a means of communication

Two statements are true. There is nothing written about more than love. Love is a subject which naturally seeks to be indescribable. Logic stats, therefore, that it is an eternally perverse aspect of the human psyche that makes us attempt to capture its slippery essence. Writing about it is, tragically, an absurd and pointless task.