Roland Barthes (Or the Profession of Cultural Studies)

Roland Barthes was one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, but why should the reader of today, or tomorrow, be concerned with him? Martin McQuillan provides a fresh perspective on Barthes, addressing his political and institutional inheritance and considering his work as the origins of a critical cultural studies.

This stimulating study:
• provides a biographical consideration of Barthes’ writing
• offers an extended reading of his 1957 text Mythologies as a text for our own time, drawing Barthes’ work into a historical relation to the present
• examines his connection to what we call cultural studies
• features an annotated bibliography of Barthes’ published work.

Thought-provoking and insightful, Roland Barthes is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the writings of this key theorist and his continuing relevance in our post-9/11 world.

Go to the Palgrave web page

MARTIN MCQUILLAN is Professor of Literary Theory and Cultural Analysis and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, UK. He is co-director of The London Graduate School.