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Barthes: A Beginner's Guide

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Mireille Ribière's introduction to Roland Barthes is not only a succinct and amazingly informative summary of Barthes's ideas and concepts but places them in their theoretical and historical context. Barthes - A Beginner's Guide reveals the versatility and the wide range of interests of this influential and prolific writer, and provides a balanced overview of all facets of his work. As such it is useful for both beginners and readers already acquainted with it.
As well as explaining and assessing Barthes's key concepts and fields of study, Mireille Ribière offers an informed, concise and easy-to-read summary of important theoretical concepts such as structuralism, semiology and post-structuralism. The book does not oversimplify these concepts but neither does it require any previous knowledge on the part of the reader.
Mireille Ribière traces Barthes's development as a thinker, cultural theorist and creative writer, and expertly summarizes his seminal influence in literary and cultural studies, film studies, photography and hypertext theory. While highlighting some of the contradictions inherent in Barthes's intellectual development, Mireille Ribière elucidates the uniting elements in his work as a thinker who always delighted in the paradox.