Roland Barthes: La Chambre claire: note sur la photographie [Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography]

La Chambre claire, published in English as Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography (trans. Richard Howard, New York: Hill and Wang, 1981), is the last book by Barthes to be published during his lifetime. At once a theoretical examination of the nature of photography, Camera Lucida is also a highly personal work of mourning. Barthes's mother, Henriette Barthes, died on October 25^th 1977, and Barthes, who had lived with her for most of his life, lost his only permanent source of love. The work of mourning is a central feature of Camera Lucida and so cannot be missed by its readers. It should also be remembered, however, that as a gay man, the death of his mother (his father died before Barthes was a