A Lover's Discourse: Fragments was revolutionary upon its 1978 publication. Roland Barthes made unprecedented use of the tools of structuralism to explore the whimsical phenomenon of love. This work is rich with references ranging from Goethe's Werther to Winnicott, from Plato to Proust, from Baudelaire to Schubert.

A Lover's Discourse artfully draws a portrait in which every reader will find echoes of themselves. It is a language of solitude, of mythology, and what Barthes calls an image repertoire. This book revives the notion of the amorous subject and is meant to be enjoyed by those who have been in love, or think they have, and those who have never been in love, or think they have not.