Literary Theory

Series 1: Handout #10

Roland Barthes (1915-1980): structuralist then poststructuralist, incorporates Marxism and psychoanalysis, early supporter of interdisciplinarity; probably the best essayist we’ll read (like Montaigne), certainly the easiest to imitate.

Mythologies (1957): “Marxian semiology of mass culture” (how it is saturated with myths presented “as if they were natural and self-evident”): “Soap-powders and Detergents,” “The Brain of Einstein,” “Photography and Electoral Appeal” (Worth trying on a political campaign videography? Some other images and texts?)

“The Death of the Author” (1968): an attack on academic interest in authorship/biography; an “effective, productive, and engaged” reading of a text means suspending “preconceived ideas about the character of a particular author.” In short, the focus should be on what the reader gets out of text, not the author’s intentions. See first two paragraphs on page 1466. Where did “the author” come from? What happens when the author is removed (see 1469). “The Birth of the Reader” and “Reader-Response Criticism.”

“From Work to Text” (1971): advocates the disintegration of “texts,” no longer treating them as “works,” which are static, to be consumed passively, rather than produced actively.