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Quote by Roland Barthes

“The photograph is literally an emanation of the referent. From a real body, which was there, proceed radiations which ultimately touch me, who am here; the duration of the transmission is insignificant; the photograph of the missing being, as Sontag says, will touch me like the delayed rays of a star.”

Author

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes (November 12, 1915 – March 25, 1980) was a French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, and sociologist. He was a leading figure in structuralism and post-structuralism, known for his profound insights into semiotics, cultural criticism, and literary theory. His works, such as Mythologies, S/Z, and The Death of the Author, challenged traditional notions of authorship and meaning, emphasizing the multiplicity of texts and the active role of readers. Barthes' interdisciplinary approach influenced cultural studies, media analysis, and postmodern thought, making him one of the most influential intellectuals of the 20th century. more

“The Photograph is violent: not because it shows violent tings, but because on each occasion (i)it fills the sight by force(i), and because in it nothing can be refused or transformed (that we can sometimes call it mild does not contradict its violence: many say that sugar is mild, but to me sugar is violent, and I call it so).”

Doe Sometimes Shows Force Violence Sight Photograph Violent Occasions Sugar Transformed

Author:Roland Barthes

“People aim for the stars, and they end up like goldfish in a bowl. I wonder if it wouldn't be simpler just to teach children right from the start that life is absurd.”

People Ifs Life Children Ends Life Is Stars Wonder Teach Aim Absurd Bowls Goldfish

Book:The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Source: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“Each photograph is read as the private appearance of its referent: the age of Photography corresponds precisely to the explosion of the private into the public, or rather into the creation of a new social value, which is the publicity of the private: the private is consumes as such, publicly.”

Age Values Social Creation Photography Photograph Appearance Explosions Publicity Social Values

Author:Roland Barthes

“The Photograph is an extended, loaded evidence — as if it caricatured not the figure of what it represents (quite the converse) but its very existence ... The Photograph then becomes a bizarre (i)medium(i), a new form of hallucination: false on the level of perception, true on the level of time: a temporal hallucination, so to speak, a modest (o)shared(i) hallucination (on the one hand 'it is not there,' on the other 'but it has indeed been'): a mad image, chafed by reality.”