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Biographical note
Roland Barthes was born in 1915 and studied French literature and classics at the University of Paris. After teaching French at universities in Romania and Egypt, he joined the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, where he devoted himself to research in sociology and lexicology. He was a professor at the College de France until his death in 1980.No one addresses himself to language so persistently or ingeniously as Barthes
Independent on Sunday
[<i>Writing Degree Zero</i> is] a sweeping account of French literature...cemented Barthes' presence on the academic scene
Washington Post
A writer whose books of criticism and personal musings must be admired as serious and beautiful works of the imagination
New York Times
Semiology is the science of signs and symbols, and their role in culture and society. Writing Degree Zero is Barthes' introduction to his field of study, the basic definitions required in the analysis of speech, language, writing and style, delivered with a poet's insight from one of France's most famous literary critics .
In Elements of Semiology Barthes presented a concise scientific definition of Saussurean linguistics and their aftermath. Published in 1967, this is a key text in the study of 'structuralism', which at that time was a relatively new critical movement rapidly gaining an international following.