A Barthes Reader

Along with only a handful of other writers, Roland Barthes has set the direction of modern cultural and literary criticism. More than two dozen of his books have appeared in English translation, and several major American writers have heralded his essays as elegant and profound. This book includes his earliest essay (on Gide), his Inaugural Lecture at the Collège de France, and "Deliberation," none of which had previously been published in English. It also offers a broad sampling from the most representative of his major works: On Racine, Writing Degree Zero, Mythologies, Critical Essays, The Pleasure of the Text, Sade/Fourier/Loyola, Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes, Image-Music-Text, A Lover's Discourse, The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies, and New Critical Essays. The texts are presented in their entirety, except in the case of a few of the lengthier ones, from which Sontag has chosen substantial key sections. All the selections are eloquently translated, and Sontag's introductory essay-itself an important contribution to Barthes studies-stands as a definitive evaluation and summation of the author and his work.