Image-Music-Text (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Leaving aside the problems involved in any translation, special difficulties arise when (as here) there is (as yet?) no real overlap in theoretical context between..." (more)
Key Phrases: obtuse meaning, connotation procedures, connoted message, New York, James Bond, Julia Kristeva (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Roland Barthes, the French critic and semiotician, was one of the most important critics and essayists of this century. His work continues to influence contemporary literary theory and cultural studies. Image-Music-Text collects Barthes's best writings on photography and the cinema, as well as fascinating articles on the relationship between images and sound. Two of Barthes's most important essays, "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative" and "The Death of the Author" are also included in this fine anthology, an excellent introduction to his thought.

Review

"The dominant perspective of the thirteen essays collected in Image-Music-Text is semiology. Barthes extends the 'empire of signs' over film and photography, music criticism . . . and writing and reading as historically situated activities. Several essays are frankly didactic. They review and expand the domain of a certain terminology: interpretive codes, narrational systems, functions and indices, denotation and connotation. Yet those impatient with special terms will not mind too much, for where else do they get, under the same cover, Beethoven and 'Goldfinger,' the Bible and 'Double Bang à Bangkok'? . . . Barthes is technical without being heavy, and a professional without ceasing to be an amateur. His precise yet fluent prose treats personal insight and systematic concepts with equal courtesy."—Geoffrey Hartman, The New York Times Book Review
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Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang (July 1, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374521360
• ISBN-13: 978-0374521363
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,945 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death of the Author, Rhetoric of the Image, etc., August 15, 2003

By	C. Gilbert "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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A note: these essays were not only translated, but also selected by Heath.

A series of essays about the composition of images (aural, textual, and visual). A good collection for people interested in his thoughts on cinema and structuralist treatment of visual form. I'm a long way from my university infatuation with semiotics, but I still find this thought-provoking to return to and an ongoing pleasure to read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Image Music Text, June 13, 2009

By	Justin K. Nelson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is phenomenal. It analyzes aspects of human knowledge that one never thought possible. I recommend reading Foucault's "The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language" first. It will set the basis for what Barthes just dives into. Awesome analysis.

10 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to Barthes, August 20, 2001

By A Customer

More accessible than some of his others, this book nevertheless exhibits the same pyrotechnic, questing intelligence that makes everything from his hand a delight to read. Excellent translation maintains a high order language as thrilling as it is conceptually sophisticated. The argument is not an academic one; rather, this is speculative writing at its most adventurous. A title for those who consider the brain their favorite organ.