ROLAND BARTHES
(1915-1980)
French mid-20th century critic and
philosopher of the left. Barthes, whose writings supposedly from a
bridge between 'high' structuralism and poststructuralism, concentrates on the main theme of language
and how we use it and relate to it. (See Terry Eagleton, Literary
Theory: An Introduction, p.117.)
One of Barthes' stated aims was to
break down the media-inspired illusions of "naturalness" and "common
sense" that are used to dress up so-called reality.
For example, his most famous work, Mythologies, "unblushingly
used the most sophisticated analytical techniques to examine the most
commonplace objects and activities: wrestling, margarine, photos of
Greta Garbo, polystyrene" (Woolley, 8). Barthes held that everyday
culture in all its forms could be analyzed in terms of language of
communication (both visual and verbal) and culturally specific
discourses. From this, he decided that the media's notion of reality
is, in fact, a myth; one way of getting around this myth is to
go outside the existing language and create new words, or neologisms,
to describe new states and new meanings that haven't yet been
defined.
"The death of the
author"
Why should the
author be dead -- or at least dying -- according to Barthes? Because
the standardizing, linear narrative structure of the modernist author
(or perhaps auteur) is being undermined by new, hyperlinked,
multiple narratives. Like
Stuart Hall, Barthes believes that the author is
not the sole determinant of meaning in the text; but he goes further. In his book S/Z,
Barthes suggests that text is a "multi-dimensional space in which a
variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash... a
text's unity lies not in its origin, but in its destination." Thus the
reader "produces" a text on his or her own terms, forging meanings
from "what has already been read, seen, done, lived, assuming many
different, and possibly contradictory roles as a text is read. This
way, the reader is 'no longer the consumer but the producer of the
text' (S/Z).
Barthes further distinguishes between
readerly and writerly texts. This is particularly
important to technologists and Internet junkies, since the distinction
helps form part of the theoretical framework for hypertext. Why? Because readerly texts, where the reader
passively consumed information in a linear manner, are the norm for
print technology (e.g., reading a book). Writerly texts should be the
norm in an electronic environment, when the reader can choose how to
relate to the text by negotiating a path through it using different
links, nodes, and networks in a web of
information. This conception of text in terms of networks and links is
also shared by Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, among others. "In this ideal text." says
Barthes, "the networks are many and interact, ... this text is a
galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain
access to it by several entrances" (Barthes, S/Z, 5). While
Barthes was writing years before the Internet evolved into a mass
medium, his writing perfectly describes the environment of the World
Wide Web. In this new milieu of non-sequential reading (and,
effectively, non-sequential writing) the reader is no longer a
consumer, but a producer of the text. (See also Landow, 3,
5).
Barthes is also something of a
realist when he talks about the nature of photography.
In his final book, Camera
Lucida, he emphasizes the referential aspects of the photograph,
i.e., that photographs are directly linked to reality. In other words,
he opposes the idea that there is no single meaning for the
photograph, but instead a sort of poststructural emergent meaning,
based on signs within contexts. So Barthes' idea seems to be closer to
our common-sense perception of what a photo is: an Main Index of
something real, that's been captured in the photographic image. This
probably makes more sense at first sight. (For more on the opposing
(or aesthetic) point of view, see the upcoming special topics
section on photography -- 3/15/98).
One of the results of Barthes' and
others' work in poststructuralism has therefore been to undermine the supposedly
strict distinction between literary and non-literary texts, and to
look at discourse
not as a transparent glass through which we glimpse reality but as the
vehicle and creator of what he calls the reality
effect.
|
|
 USEFUL
EXTERNAL
LINKS
|
|
None Entered Yet: Refer
to |
|
Kiss's "Beyond"
section |
|
for external
links |
|
See also kiss links:
|
~~~~~~~~~~
CHARLES
BAUDELAIRE
French early Modern poet and
'dandy'. His work signaled the early beginnings of the avant-garde.
a) Baudelaire modelled himself on the
aristocracy, high fashion, ostentacious display.
b) He followed the
modernist concept of the avant garde; concerned with artistic form.
c)
Believed in "art for art's sake."
The so-called "revolt against
positivism" in natural science and social thought in the 1890s was
anticipated by both Baudelaire and Nietzsche in
the 1860s and 1870s. Baudelaire believed that "Art is not based upon
nature but upon thought; thus, it is an artifice" (Lunn, p.
43).
~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
JEAN
BAUDRILLARD
|
~~k.i.s.s.~~
When you
think of Baudrillard, think "simulation". A French intellectual, postmodern critic and most extreme (some would say
whacked-out) proponent of postmodernity, Baudrillard looks at how
our postmodern world is no longer real, but only a simulation of the
real. He articulates his belief about simulations through his ideas
on hyperreality, simulacra, and the mass media in our postmodern society (see below).
|
I.
NB: For more on
Jean Baudrillard, visit the new Special Topics site, A ROUGH CHRONOLOGY OF JEAN BAUDRILLARD'S
THOUGHTS ON THE WORLD.
~~~~~~~~~~
 WALTER
BENJAMIN
 A
member of the Frankfurt School in interwar Germany and contemporary of Adorno,
Horkheimer, etc. Benjamin's ideas were very important as precursors to
postmodernism. He got us, for example, to think about how
technology alters the way we look at reality.
I.
Benjamin is the author
of "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Here he argues
that because of mechanical reproduction, art loses its authenticity. But
this is good, because it democratizes and politicizes art. He also noted
that with every stage of reproduction of an original work of art, that
work loses some of its "aura."
He disagreed with Frankfurt School
colleagues such as Adorno
because he argued that art might help free people, not enslave them in a
capitalist culture industry.
In "The Work of Art," Benjamin
argues:
i) Culture itself
transformed an into industry; art therefore commodified.
ii) Art was "successful" only when it allowed
critcal contemplation.
iii) Contemporary culture is how oppressive
ideologies are reproduced and disseminated.
iv) New media technologies
such as phonographs, epic theatre, and especially film and photography,
not only destroy art's "aura" but demystifies the process of creating art,
making available radical new access and roles for art in mass
culture.
v.) The spectator becomes a participant, joins the author in
the production; a collaborator.
II.
Like McLuhan,
Benjamin is positive about new technologies, emphasizing their liberating,
democratizing influences. This put him at odds with the dominant elitist
strain of modernism of
the early 20th century.
 For more on Benjamin see the new Special Topics section on WALTER BENJAMIN and "The Work of Art in
the Age of Mechanical Reproduction".
~~~~~~~~~~
JEREMY BENTHAM
Englishman best known for his
philosophy of government - that which produces the greatest good for the
greatest number - Bentham also designed the panopticon
prison design, which Foucault
later used as a metaphor for his theories on how power relationships
worked in a postmodern world.
~~~~~~~~~~
JORGE LUIS BORGES
Borges is known for his famous
"map" story, also appropriated by Baudrillard
to illustrate the concept of simulation.
In this story the cartographers of an imaginary Empire "draw up a map so
detailed that it ends up covering exactly covering the territory" so that
the real territory underneath the map is obscured. The people of this
Empire come to relate more closely to this map than they do to the
original territory underneath (they live, work, and play on it, etc.)
When, eventually, the map becomes tattered and frayed, and ultimately
disintegrates, the people become nostalgic for it, feeling that they have
lost something. The real territory which is now revealed to them seems
alien, unfamiliar.
So Baudrillard
would argue that we, as a society, have lost touch with reality. Instead,
we're hooked into a simulation of reality, made up of television, the
Internet, etc. This new "reality" supplants the real thing. It's like the
Borges' map -- we feel comfortable in our new simulated world, and feel a
little unsettled if we stray away from it from too long, e.g., if we go on
an extended camping trip.
~~~~~~~~~~
BERTHOLT BRECHT
All about Brecht:
See also:
~~~~~~~~~~
JUDITH BUTLER
Feminist
scholar (and one of the pioneers of queer theory). Butler points to
gender roles and the artificial -- rather than "essential" -- nature of
their construction in terms of power relations. Along with feminist
scholars such as Harroway
and Katherine Hayles,
she has been at the forefront of exposing such constructions. Among her
best-regarded works: Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of
identity. (New York: Routledge, 1990); Excitable speech: A
politics of the performative. (New York: Routledge, 1997).
CT. Author Index Bb
 BACK TO
TOP
| home | index
| core |
topics |
quiz |
beyond
<< PREVIOUS | NEXT >>
©
Contents are copyright by Douglas Bicket, unless stated otherwise. These
may be reproduced for non-commercial, educational purposes provided this
notice is included and contents are not altered.
Last Updated: apr 14
2001 |
