Understanding Barthes, Understanding Modernism by Zahi Zalloua

Understanding Barthes, Understanding Modernism by Zahi Zalloua

Understanding Barthes, Understanding Modernism is a general assessment of the modern literary and philosophical contributions of Roland Barthes. The first part of the volume focuses on work published prior to Barthes's death in 1980 covering the major periods of his development from Writing Degree Zero (1953) to Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography (1980). The second part focuses both on the posthumously published material and the legacies of his work after his death in 1980. This later work has attracted attention, for example, in conjunction with notions of the neutral, gay writing, and critiques of everyday life. The third part is devoted to some of the critical vocabulary of Barthes in both the work he published during his lifetime, and that which was published posthumously.

[The] book succeeds in conveying Barthes’s awareness and engagement with thinkers and writers of his time as well as his dynamic curiosity for future lines of thought, both of which continue to make his corpus, like modernism itself, so tantalizingly resistant to the unrelenting tenacity of academic labelling* French Studies *

Understanding Barthes, Understanding Modernism is a further testament to the enduring insistence of the writing and thought of Roland Barthes. Mapping Barthes' brilliance across the inevitably multiple and heterogeneous constellation of his interventions, exploring and extending his legacies, and, in superbly Barthesian style, offering punctual insights into the "conceptual inventory' generated by his writing, the volume succeeds in making of the reading of Barthes' work a paradoxical experience of newness and return. The volume will be required reading for any who seek to understand Barthes' vital contribution to his time and ours.

* Patrick ffrench, Professor of French, King’s College London, UK *

An extremely stimulating collection by a transatlantic group of distinguished contributors, this volume combines very rich essays on many aspects of Barthes’ work, from the earliest to the latest, with useful summaries of key ideas. Any student of Roland Barthes will find things of interest here.

* Jonathan Culler, Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Emeritus, Cornell University, USA *
Reading Barthes means thinking about modernity in all its forms. Providing a panoramic account of Barthes’s engagement with literature, aesthetics, popular culture, and philosophy, the essays in this collection illuminate our understanding of Barthes’s multi-faceted thought and show how his insights continue to resonate and to inform inquiry across disciplinary boundaries. -- Lucy O’Meara, University of Kent, UK * Modern Language Review *
This book is a necessary inclusion on the shelf of any Barthes scholar as it fully explores the vast constellation of his thought through nuanced and comprehensive studies and applications of his work. -- Christopher O’Hara, University of St Andrews, UK * Forum for Modern Language Studies *

Jeffrey R. Di Leo is Professor of English and Philosophy and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Houston, Victoria, USA. He is editor and founder of the critical theory journal symploke, editor and publisher of the American Book Review, and Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange. He has written, edited, or co-edited twenty-five books including the Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary and Cultural Theory (2019).

Zahi Zalloua is the Cushing Eells Professor of Philosophy and Literature and a professor of French and Interdisciplinary Studies at Whitman College, USA, and Editor of The Comparatist. He is the author of five books, including Žižek on Race: Toward an Anti- Racist Future (2020), Theory’s Autoimmunity: Skepticism, Literature, and Philosophy (2018), and Continental Philosophy and the Palestinian Question: Beyond the Jew and the Greek (2017). He has edited volumes and special journal issues on globalization, literary theory, ethical criticism, and trauma studies.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781501367403
ISBN 10	1501367404
Title	Understanding Barthes, Understanding Modernism
Author	Zahi Zalloua
Series	Understanding Philosophy Understanding Modernism
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Year published	2022-08-11
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.