Synopsis "Writing Degree Zero "

Is there any such thing as revolutionary literature? Can literature, in fact, be political at all? These are the questions Roland Barthes addresses in Writing Degree Zero, his first published book and a landmark in his oeuvre. The debate had engaged the European literary community since the 1930s; with this fierce manifesto, Barthes challenged the notion of literature's obligation to be socially committed. Yes, Barthes allows, the writer has a political and ethical responsibility. But the history of French literature shows that the writer has often failed to meet it--and from Barthes's perspective, literature is committed to little more than the myth of itself. Expert and uncompromising, Writing Degree Zero introduced the themes that would soon establish Barthes as one of the leading voices in literary criticism.

Roland Barthes

(Author)

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(1915-1980) He was one of the most important intellectual figures to emerge in post-war France, and his writings are still, to this day, the subject of study and discussion. This French critic and essayist developed much of his work in an ambiguous space between linguistics and literature. Among his books, his semiological studies on the image gained great recognition. In 1977, he was appointed to the chair of Literary Semiology at the Collège de France, which was specially created for him on the advice of Michel Foucault. Barthes defined himself as "an uncertain subject": too literary for linguists, too linguist for literary critics. Perhaps it is this trait that has made him one of the most influential thinkers and theorists in his field.

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