A diary, Roland Barthes suggested, provokes in its writer not the tragic question, 'Who am I?' but the comic question: 'Am I?' This elegant and amused remark goes some way towards explaining why Barthes, who reflected much on his life and published a book called Roland Barthes par Roland Barthes, should not have kept a diary. The comic question can't be confronted, it can only be circumvented, played with, smiled at. Of course, if you didn't think it was funny, or if you were sure of the answer, you could keep a diary: but you wouldn't be Barthes.

LRB 9 October 1986 | PDF Download