University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

La Chambre Claire is a deeply felt reflection on the nature of photography, representation, time, and mortality. Barthes beautifully intertwines his semiotic theory with his poignant search for a true photograph of his beloved mother. After looking extensively among family albums, he finally rediscovers his mother in a picture of her as a small child, where she lets herself be (and be photographed) and his son is able to read the quality (gentleness) that defined her when she was alive. Camera Lucida enlightens, intellectually and spiritually, those of us who are interested in the rhetoric of images and the profound effect they can have on the audience.