The Floating Opera Author:John Barthes Why The Floating Opera? Well, that's part of the name of a showboat that used to travel around the Virginia and Maryland tidewater areas, and some of this book happens aboard it....But there's a better reason. It always seemed a fine idea to me to build a showboat with just one big flat open deck on it, and to keep a play going continuously...[... more »in other words, typical Barthes--compare to Tristram Shandy]« less