Abstract
For French cultural theorist Roland Barthes the voice is an object of a singular evaluation; it is 'what he loves'. As such it is beyond representation and cultural evaluation, or sits uneasily between conceptualization and affective affirmation. In this chapter I read Barthes' account of the voice, and the musical voice in particular, through the framework of the musicologist Pierre Schaeffer's notion of the acousmatic. I argue that for Barthes the voice is not simply a sound divorced from its source, as in the acousmatic scenario, but is also an object outside the realm of phenomena, akin to the objet a in Lacanian psychoanalysis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Barthes et la musique |
| Editors | Claude Coste, Sylvie Douche |
| Place of Publication | Rennes |
| Publisher | Presses Universitaires de Rennes |
| Chapter | 14 |
| Pages | 245-57 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9782753575455 |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2018 |
Keywords
- Roland Barthes, Voice, Acousmatic, Pierre Schaeffer