What makes phenomenology rewarding is that it is pleasurable to read about existential insights: to passively and actively read and write insightful sources. In his book The Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes (1975) reminds us that the act of reading and writing itself can be highly pleasurable. He calls it jouissance, carnal pleasure. He poses the question of what we do when we enjoy a text. But we should remind ourselves that reading and writing a phenomenological essay is pleasurable in a different sense than reading a novel or writing a novel. The practice of doing phenomenology may not even be regarded as pleasurable though it can be experienced as highly gratifying.
Pleasure is an ambiguous term that can evoke very different experiential emotions and feelings. The Pleasure of the Text contains a series of fragments about reading and writing; in the table of contents the fragments are indicated with one-word titles with page numbers. The book is actually a highly original series of reflections on linguistic issues and topics such as Right, Exchange, Hearing, Emotion, Boredom. But each fragment is joyful to read as it offers meaningful insights into the question what makes textual reading and writing joyful. The question is how such ideas and insights come to us.
Selected Readings:
Barthes, R. (1975). The Pleasure of the Text. New York: Hill and Wang.
Barthes, R. (1981). Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang.
Barthes, R. (1986). The Rustle of Language. New York: Hill and Wang.