Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
50th out of 409 books
—
819 voters
Mythologies
"[Mythologies] illustrates the beautiful generosity of Barthes's progressive interest in the meaning (his word is signification) of practically everything around him, not only the books and paintings of high art, but also the slogans, trivia, toys, food, and popular rituals (cruises, striptease, eating, wrestling matches) of contemporary life . . . For Barthes, words and o...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
January 1st 1972
by Hill and Wang
(first published 1957)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
I am not a huge critical lit reader but there is something so enjoyable about Barthes' books or essays. I like the way he writes about an everyday object or subject matter - and just tears into it like a very curious scientist. "Mythologies" is one of his more well-known titles and rightfully so. Good writer and I think he's a great reader as well.
Mythologies (1957) was recommended to me as a must-read for brand builders. Who better (or more fun) to read when boning up on brand strategy and semiotics than Roland Barthes? Each of Barthes’s very brief and highly entertaining essays demonstrates his point of view and method as a mythologist--a sarcastic bastard with the insight to look a hole right through you.
According to Barthes, a mythologist is (not just an irreverent, cultural jester, but) an individual who recognizes a cultural myth, s...more
According to Barthes, a mythologist is (not just an irreverent, cultural jester, but) an individual who recognizes a cultural myth, s...more
7 likes · like · see review
Apr 26, 2008
Melissa Rudder
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Steve, Tim, and anyone interested in theory and rhetoric
I only had to read half of Roland Barthes' Mythologies for my Critical Theory class, but I was so engrossed that I set aside George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones (you'll understand how impressive that is if I ever get to that review) and spent a day of my spring break reading the whole thing. In Mythologies, Barthes, a theorist I previously (and less amiably) met during my Media and Rhetoric class, does a semiotic reading of different aspects of society in order to identify the ideological belie...more
a wonderful book...
although it didn't end up going where i thought it would...
barthes envisions the process of myth as a pernicious tool of the dominant power structure for the covert distortion of history...
his analysis centers on the notion that myth is used in the modern world to 'naturalize' concepts that the bourgeois power base wants the masses to believe 'go without saying' or are seemingly essential parts of human existence...
i'd never really thought of myth in this light...
barthes argum...more
although it didn't end up going where i thought it would...
barthes envisions the process of myth as a pernicious tool of the dominant power structure for the covert distortion of history...
his analysis centers on the notion that myth is used in the modern world to 'naturalize' concepts that the bourgeois power base wants the masses to believe 'go without saying' or are seemingly essential parts of human existence...
i'd never really thought of myth in this light...
barthes argum...more
2 likes · like · see review
After spending a semester with Barthes and pairing it with the Best American Non-required reading 2006 book, I'd say I got a lot out of it. A lot our class (that we read this book for) really didn't like Barthes, primarily because he is so abstract and likes to use the flowery language. I think for the average reader, this is a book where you have to slow down and think about every word, every sentence, every paragraph to get what he is saying in the slightest bit, which is good because it chall...more
Oh enjoy the 3 page observations of myth in modern society. Relish how surprisingly difficult they can be to understand, but yet have something marvelous to ponder. Soon you will get to the second half, the essay "Myth Today," and it will hurt your brain reeeeeeal good. Barthes examines the power of myth, why it is so harmful, and how it works semiotically. The last 60 pages took me 5 hours to read but it was so insightful I sat struck when I had put the book down. This is not easy reading and i...more
This has the reputation of a hard read but don't let it discourage you, aside from the last chapter that delves into semiotics proper the rest is more akin to cultural criticism and very accessible - even very enjoyable, a rare treat for this kind of moralizing material! Everything and anything goes under the unforgiving scrutiny of Barthes, who seems eager to display his prophetic interest in pop-culture, ranging from backyard wrestling to populist politics (the Poujadism article is my personal...more
This was much more interesting than I expected it to be – and I could even go as far as to say some of it was quite fun. I mean fun in a relative sense, of course, as this is a text with quite some ‘resistance’ and so some of it was also quite hard to read.
Most of the text is a series of short essays that discuss what the author refers to as ‘myths’. Now, these aren’t really the kinds of things that you might automatically associate with the word ‘myth’. There is a longish (longish for a book t...more
Most of the text is a series of short essays that discuss what the author refers to as ‘myths’. Now, these aren’t really the kinds of things that you might automatically associate with the word ‘myth’. There is a longish (longish for a book t...more
11 likes · like · see review
The book works in two parts, firstly as a journalistic foray into debunking the ideological underpinnings for a number of myths which have taken Barthes eye over a number of years, usually composed as counterpoints to mainstream bourgeois press like Elle magazine and L'express in France. And the second part of the book is espousing the theory of semiotics. If I start with the weakest, the later is a rather wordy and turgid read consisting of just over a third of the book, giving the background t...more
May 12, 2009
Emir
added it
It's Barthes' seminal book and one that can actually be read with sanity. It served as my reference (of course) for the paper on semiotics and motion design.
Part of Barthes' motivation with writing the book is that he saw history routinely presented as nature in media and mass communication through myth. Barthes defines a myth as a type of speech (p. 109) that by it's nature eschews the critical. The theory of semiotics postulates that a semiological sign consists of a signifier and the signifie...more
Part of Barthes' motivation with writing the book is that he saw history routinely presented as nature in media and mass communication through myth. Barthes defines a myth as a type of speech (p. 109) that by it's nature eschews the critical. The theory of semiotics postulates that a semiological sign consists of a signifier and the signifie...more
Barthes analyses the world around us through the concept of myths. It was an revolutionary idea in the 50ies, that there could be an analysis of anything that's not high culture, that in fact the world around us is made out of signs, that in fact, every piece of advertisement, every picture, every building, and every movie is a sign you can analyse and interpret.
I had read "Mythologies" before, but it has been a while - and on rereading it, I was most interested whether this theory still holds u...more
I had read "Mythologies" before, but it has been a while - and on rereading it, I was most interested whether this theory still holds u...more
Tasty little treat, and essential as an intro to semiology, cultural theory and/or just plain critical thinking. Four stars as a teaching tool. As a read in its own right, though, it feels like one of those seminal texts that outdate themselves. You hit an especially belabored point and think, "Well, no shit. We all got there 30 years ago with...ah...Barthes. Oh."
But hot damn, does it make freshmen's heads explode. Pre-tween little brainses everywhere.
But hot damn, does it make freshmen's heads explode. Pre-tween little brainses everywhere.
Ce livre m’a passablement ennuyé.
On y trouve certains passages très amusants, mais il ne s’agit jamais de rien de plus que d’opinions subjectives assumées (10) et il est important de garder en tête qu’il s’agit d’une œuvre qui se veut une provocation libératrice sinon, on risque de trouver Barthes franchement stupide. Le vrai problème, c’est que ces réflexions sont trop souvent inintéressantes autant en ce qui a trait aux objets choisis qu’en ce qui concerne la réflexion sur ces objet, générale...more
On y trouve certains passages très amusants, mais il ne s’agit jamais de rien de plus que d’opinions subjectives assumées (10) et il est important de garder en tête qu’il s’agit d’une œuvre qui se veut une provocation libératrice sinon, on risque de trouver Barthes franchement stupide. Le vrai problème, c’est que ces réflexions sont trop souvent inintéressantes autant en ce qui a trait aux objets choisis qu’en ce qui concerne la réflexion sur ces objet, générale...more
A wonderful collection of essays in which Barthes as a mythologist searches behind and reveals the meanings hidden in the modern 'myths'(myth as a semiological concept). He takes the ordinary examples and then begins analyzing it. Only then you realize that the ordinary thing (eg: advertisement for the detergent powder) itself was a myth which when excavated reveals much. For example He does a psycho analytic study of the advertisement of detergent powders among many other things.
There are few...more
There are few...more
I adore this book. I have read it perhaps twenty or thirty times. For this reading, I purchased the new 'Vintage Barthes' _Mythologies_. It is a lovely collection. The essays themselves are magisterial: clever, witty, naughty and corrosive. The main essay - "Myth today" - is rightly famous. The exploration of nominated and ex-nominated signs can change your life.
But on this reading, I was most impressed by two essays that I have rarely explored. "Wine and milk" and "Steak and chips" were outsta...more
But on this reading, I was most impressed by two essays that I have rarely explored. "Wine and milk" and "Steak and chips" were outsta...more
I love Roland Barthes. I think these short tales carry a lot weight today, and can be used as nice cornerstones as we step back and look at our society. I found Mythologies to be particularly qualified to serve as a mirror that reflects many of our contemporary issues despite the fact he wrote it decades ago. The root causes for some of our cultural difficulties go deeper than many realize.
It seems hard to believe that I am only reading this now, since, if I am correct to believe that Barthes, with the essays in this book, all but invented this activity of examining everything, including and especially popular culture and media, with the air of the erudite anthropologist, but with a genuine insight into the fact that we are not somehow magically immune to having mythologies merely by fact of having a culture in which we recognize their existence. But this activity is to me like wa...more
Sarah Pulse: Ahhhh, the anthropology days.
Matilda Stubbs: likes this.
Imogen Binnie: yeah! I love this book and think about it kind of all the time.
Christine Kellogg: I kind of always have this book on my mind too. it's kind of hard not to think about something once you are aware of it. I think I read this first and then read that article about the Nacirema (American backwards) immediately after which only made me more keenly aware of it.
Imogen Binnie: I was thinking about it this weekend 'cause...more
Matilda Stubbs: likes this.
Imogen Binnie: yeah! I love this book and think about it kind of all the time.
Christine Kellogg: I kind of always have this book on my mind too. it's kind of hard not to think about something once you are aware of it. I think I read this first and then read that article about the Nacirema (American backwards) immediately after which only made me more keenly aware of it.
Imogen Binnie: I was thinking about it this weekend 'cause...more
What I mean is that I cannot countenance the traditional belief which postulates a natural dichotomy between the objectivity of the scientist and the subjectivity of the writer, as if the former were endowed with a ‘freedom’ and the latter with a ‘vocation’ equally suitable for spiriting away or sublimating the actual limitations of their situation.
...or, I want to make science imaginable.
Barthes set out to define a unity between science and imagination. The implication of inanimate objects has...more
...or, I want to make science imaginable.
Barthes set out to define a unity between science and imagination. The implication of inanimate objects has...more
This was a really great read. Having previously read Barthes' "Elements of Semiology," I was left intrugued but dissatisfied with his theory. It was a very bare bones, though easy to follow, extension of Saussure's demand for a study of symbols.
That being said, I highly recommend reading the two of these as a pair. After having laid the linguistic foundation in his "Elements," "Mythologies" comprises a series of essays using this very technique to perform social criticisms via the structuralist...more
That being said, I highly recommend reading the two of these as a pair. After having laid the linguistic foundation in his "Elements," "Mythologies" comprises a series of essays using this very technique to perform social criticisms via the structuralist...more
Dec 11, 2008
Rickeclectic
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
literary interpretation, philosophy
Shelves:
about-meaning
Very important book. Barthes is one of the Fathers of semiology, "the study of signs." Leaving out the techno jargon, this is the study of how we make meaning and the limits of how we mean. This book is mostly a very easy read on some very everyday subjects and yet the interpretation of what and how these subjects (wrestling, bleach, etc.) "mean" was a revolution in interpretation theory and ultimately had huge impact on literary criticism, philosophy, and many other disciplines. A good start on...more
The ending essay (Myth Today) is pretty clear and good. I found the articles underwhelming in general though this passage is still alarmingly accurate:
"In every feature of Elle we find this twofold action: lock the gynaeceum, then and only then release woman inside. Love, work, write, be business-women or women of letters, but always remember that man exists, and that you are not made like him; your order is free on condition that it depends on his; your freedom is a luxury, it is possible only...more
"In every feature of Elle we find this twofold action: lock the gynaeceum, then and only then release woman inside. Love, work, write, be business-women or women of letters, but always remember that man exists, and that you are not made like him; your order is free on condition that it depends on his; your freedom is a luxury, it is possible only...more
My advice is to read this book backwards. Some of the short essays, including "Wine and Milk," "Steak and Chips," "The Blue Guide," and "The Lost Continent," are exemplary demonstrations of the ideas laid out in the long essay, "Myth Today," that concludes the book. There Barthes argues for a dense handful of concepts related to the signifier and the signified, noting especially the extent to which mythology tries to depict things properly categorized as "historical" in a manner that we might ca...more
Jul 22, 2007
Kevin Karpiak
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
cultural studiers
Shelves:
france,
french-theory
I have no idea why nobody reads barthes anymore in anthropology. He's prettier than Foucault, less obtuse than Levi-Strauss and more current than Benjamin.
He basically invents cultural studies in this book.
He basically invents cultural studies in this book.
I wonder sometimes what it must be like to have been born before the simulacrum became a matter of fact, instead of 1985. What was it like to read Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, or Guy Debord before Ronald Reagan became president, Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor and the world was recreated in a manmade archipelago off the coast of Dubai? I have no idea. Roland Barthes is a tremendous writer but this book feels too precious, too quaint; serious conversations about the petite bourgeoise just f...more
The only Barthes I've read before is his "death of the author piece," which is sort of the token piece of theory which everyone who majored in english is familiar with. What makes this so interesting is how he weaves this incredibly fluid analysis informed by his ideas of myth and semiology. It kind of reminds me of Vico a bit, where you see a methodology arise out of examples instead of just being introduced in a rote, inorganic way. The way he takes apart these hopelessly everyday things and s...more
I skimmed most of it. Perhaps this should warn me not to read books for which I have absolutely no context.
"This emptying out of interiority to the benefit of exterior signs, this exhaustion of the content by the form, is the very principle of triumphant classical art." (18)
"The merest set of blocks...implies a very different learning of the world: then, the child does not in any way create meaningful objects...the actions he performs are not those of a user but those of a demiurge." (54)
"An inc...more
"This emptying out of interiority to the benefit of exterior signs, this exhaustion of the content by the form, is the very principle of triumphant classical art." (18)
"The merest set of blocks...implies a very different learning of the world: then, the child does not in any way create meaningful objects...the actions he performs are not those of a user but those of a demiurge." (54)
"An inc...more
I first read Mythologies twice, in tandem: in French in French class, and in English in a women's studies class. There is something about the English translations that loses a bit of Barthes' naughty humor; while many of the essays are rather serious I can't think of Barthes as someone who took himself too seriously. The reflections on myths of beauty and love are particularly poignant; as in his other works, these are the most perishable of the myths. It is ironic that beauty and love, while th...more
Great book, I have to say I felt really sorry for the poor guy when I got to the end, he sounded so sad and...well, alienated, in his conclusion. Bless his little Commie socks.
Joking aside, Barthes created here a genuinely accessible explanation of structural linguistics as first written on by Saussure. The book is a a compilation of articles, followed by a chapter at the end going into a vigerous explanation of the throey underlying the practise of a semiotic analysis. Essential for anyone stud...more
Joking aside, Barthes created here a genuinely accessible explanation of structural linguistics as first written on by Saussure. The book is a a compilation of articles, followed by a chapter at the end going into a vigerous explanation of the throey underlying the practise of a semiotic analysis. Essential for anyone stud...more
Although his conception of signs is very basic and I think at times wrong, and perhaps too influenced by Saussure and not enough by Peirce this is a really fun, quick, easy book. It reminded me alot of McCluhan's [Book: The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects (Penguin Modern Classics)] in that they come from a time when the way that they media pervades our every mode of existing is a new and exciting thing. If I were to teach a media studies class I would get my students to read both...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The cultural view | 2 | 12 | Feb 21, 2013 10:43am | |
| Help me understand this book please? | 6 | 62 | Aug 05, 2012 10:24am |
Roland Barthes was a French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher, and semiotician. Barthes' work extended over many fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, Marxism and post-structuralism.
More about Roland Barthes...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“A light without shadow generates an emotion without reserve.”
—
5 people liked it
“What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which may well make sarcasm the condition of truth.”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
Jun 01, 2008 08:37am