About this title: In MYTHOLOGIES, Roland Barthes's most popular work, he examines common signs or "myths," and how they mask larger meanings and realities within French society. The collection contains a number of short pieces on popular culture, politics, film, and more, written for the leftist Les Lettres Nouvelles in the mid-1950s; the content epitomizes classic ...
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Date Published: 1972
ISBN-13:9780374521509ISBN:0374521506
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. clean text, tight binding, minor shelf wear to cover/corners, nice reading copy, help support independent booksellers! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 159 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Date Published: 1972
ISBN-13:9780809013692ISBN:080901369X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Text in English, French. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 158 p. Audience: General/trade. Clean, crisp copy. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Noonday Press
Date Published: 1972-01-01
ISBN-13:9780374521509ISBN:0374521506
Description: Good. Paperback in good condition. Shelfwear, previous owner's name on front endpaper, and a handful of pages with light ink. Very good study copy-spine is uncreased, binding tight and sturdy, text is mostly clean and always readable. read more
Edition: Text is Free of Markings
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, New York, NY
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780374521509ISBN:0374521506
Description: Near Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 159 pp. Tightly bound. Spine not compromised. read more
Edition: Tenth printing 1979
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Date Published: 1972
ISBN-13:9780809013692ISBN:080901369X
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Book is clean. Spine sunned. Corner cut on half-title page. No other marks. Text in English, French. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 158 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Hill and Wang, New York, NY, USA
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780809013692ISBN:080901369X
Description: Very Good. 080901369X Used 159 pages. Clean inside & out, one page corner folded, small thumb crease in front cover. Contents include: The World of Wrestling; Romans in Films; Blind and Dumb Criticism; Poor and the Proletariat; Nofels and Children; Face of Garbo; Brain of Einstein; Ornamental Cookery; Striptease; The Lost Continent; Plastic; Great Family of Man; Lady of the Camellias; Myth Today. read more
"Had to read it for Critical Theory class. Although it was a bit of a jolt to get into the "theory" mindset I found many of the concepts enlightening. I particularly liked the Wrestling essay and its illumination of the "myth of intelligible speech"/"myth of the intelligibility of the moral world".
And this was a memorable quote:
Myth hides nothing and flaunts nothing: it distorts; myth is neither a lie nor a confession: it is an inflexion."
"I can't believe that I haven't read this in its entirety before!
One of my favorite essays in this collection is the one on "Novels and Children." Barthes muses on how the weekly magazine Elle introduces a female writer as "a remarkable zoological species," as "she brings forth, pell-mell, novels and children." Women writers in this magazine are not only describes as such, but their identity must always be twofold (as they can never forget their domestic roles). By deconstructing this myth of traditional womanhood, Barthes asks (and answers):
"What does it mean? This: to write is glorious but bold activity; the writer is an 'artist,' one recognizes he is entitled to bohemianism. As he is in general entrusted--at least in the France of Elle--with giving society reasons for its clear conscience, he must, after all, be paid for his services: one tacitly grants him the right to some individuality. But make no mistake: let no woman believe that they can take advantage of this pact without having first submitted to the eternal statue of womanhood. Women are on earth to give children to men; let them write as much as they like, let them decorate their condition, but above all, let them not depart from it: let their Biblical fate not be disturbed by the promotion that is conceded to them, and let them pay immediately by the tribute of their motherhood, for this bohemianism which has a natural link with a writer's life.
Women, be therefore courageous, free; play at being men, write like them; but never get far from them; live under their gaze, compensate for your books by your children; enjoy a free rein for a while, but quickly come back to your condition. One novel, one child, a little feminism, a little connubiality. Let us tie the adventure of art to the strong pillars of the home: both will profit a great deal from this combination: where myths are concerned, mutual help is always fruitful.""
"A very good work of structuralist theory and a forebear to the emergence of Cultural Studies. Mythologies is one of the few bits of French theory that is accessible, and it's lots of fun in addition to being illuminating. Barthes's essay on wrestling is a staple, and rightly so, but I'd love for him to come back and train his analytical sites on the Hogans. Well, on second thought, maybe it's better that he's not around to see them."
"A landmark work in postmodernism, Mythologies consists mostly of a series of short essays analyzing the meanings behind all sorts of elements in modern life, from pro wrestling to laundry detergent. It's actually pretty fun to read. At the end of the book is a longer piece explaining the philosophical underpinnings of the rest of the work, which is helpful in tying it all together to a certain extent, but I have to admit that a lot of this part went over my head."
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