“With a second hand”: Spenser with Roland Barthes

Abstract

In The Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes discusses textual production as a source of pleasure; in his influential account, both writing and reading are seen to have a certain erotic charge. While Spenser might seem an unlikely choice for this kind of discussion, this essay argues that in Amoretti 75 and 80 Spenser considers writing and its relation to both love and time. Barthes turns out to be a fitting companion for an examination of Spenser’s textual production in the sequence. With its focus on both the writer and the reader, sonnet 75 is particularly well suited to being placed in conversation with The Pleasure of the Text. In addition, Barthes’s focus on the reader allows me to consider my own pleasure as a reader of both Barthes and Spenser.