Eva Frasers Face and Body Program

US: Penguin UK, 1993. Good. Roland Barthes is a central figure in the study of language, literature, cu lture and the media, both as innovator and guide. This book prepares reader s for their first encounter with his crucial writings on some of the most i mportant theoretical debates of the 20th century, including: existentialism and Marxism; semiology, or the language of signs; structuralism and narrat ive analysis; post-structuralism, deconstruction and the death of the autho r; and theories of the text and intertextuality. Tracing his engagement wit h other key thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Ferdinand de Saussure, Jacqu es Derrida and Julia Kristeva, this volume offers a clear picture of Barthe s' work in context. Having explained in detail Barthes's most influential i deas and their impact, Graham Allen concludes with a guide to easily availa ble translations of his work and to useful further reading. The in-depth un derstanding of Barthes offered by this guide is essential to anyone reading contemporary critical theory.