Não Escrever [com Roland Barthes]

After publishing essays on writing and theorizing the death of the author, Roland Barthes wanted to write a novel. While embarking on this task, he reflected on this desire in a course at the Collège de France. The work, Vita Nova, remained in sketch form, and the classes of The Preparation of the Novel were interrupted by the death of the French critic in 1980.
What led him not to write? This is the starting point for essayist Paloma Vidal to approach the routine, searches, fears, body, and work of Barthes, in an investigation that may not want to reach its end. Between creation and reflection, poetry co-stars with theory to give body to this book, finally written — with Roland Barthes.

Não Escrever [com Roland Barthes], by Paloma Vidal, is one of the first volumes of the “Ensaio Aberto” book collection, a result of the partnership between NOVA FCSH and PUC-Rio.

Ensaio Aberto Collection

In Western tradition, there was a certain assumption of separation between Philosophy and Literature, resulting in a historical understanding that divided, on one hand, the mind, reflection, or reason, and on the other hand, the body, creation, or emotion. Thus, the possibility of a knowledge that, instead of separating, brought Philosophy and Literature closer together was lost. One might ask: don’t writers philosophize, and don’t philosophers write? The essays in this collection emerged from the desire to explore how, despite the well-known metaphysical critique that Philosophy directed towards Literature, they never ceased to draw closer.