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On Signs
"Blonsky has grouped numerous original and newly translated works by those who have been highly visible forces in semiotic circles... His book functions as a unified voice proclaiming the power of semiotics to reveal the hidden practices and secrets of modern society."--Journal of Communication. Contributors include Roland Barthes, Michel de Certeau, Jacques Derrida, Edmundo Desnoes, Umberto Eco, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, Thomas A. Sebeok, and others.
588 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 29, 2019
An excellent anthology of semiological texts.
December 14, 2020
A must read.
Want to Read
September 28, 2008from Roland Barthes, "The Shape I'm In: Interview with French "Playboy"
"Playboy": Your problem is sugar?
Barthes: For me, yes. But that is not the case for everybody. And then you know, there are fads. Take Atkins, for example. He maintains that if you get rid of all sugars, fruits included, you can eat as much as you want of everything else. In reality, it is an ideology that is tailor-made for Americans, in so far as, on the one hand, it frustrates them enormously (they are the people who eat the most sugar): therefore it gives them the energy to struggle over an important point (no more sundaes, no more ice cream, no more Cokes, etc.). On the other hand, the Atkins diet gives Americans an enormous compensation: breakfast! It recurs on every page of Atkins like a kind of description of the golden age: all is not lost because with Atkins, in the morning, you are entitled to eat anything you want, bacon, sausage, eggs, poached, fried, etc.
Playboy: Another compensation: it gives them a guru. Part of the "religious" aspect of dieting.
Barthes: It is better to "add up" diets. And then in the end there is only one system for losing weight: do not eat. Do you know what I spoke about with the administrator of the College de France, during my first visit for candidature? The American statistics on the percentage of successful weight-loss diets. Barely 5 per cent last - the others last a while, then they give up. In the modern world, there is a social dialectic which keeps you from sticking to a diet: if you eat something with someone, you are immediately subjected to the other's attention, which keeps you from respecting your diet in one way or another. I m forced to compensate for my meals in restaurants by eating ascetically when I am at home. A salad. A grilled steak - I don't like meat. But it is the food best suited to keeping you from getting fat.
Playboy: And cheese?
Barthes: I like it enormously. I often have some between meals. I should not but...
"Playboy": Your problem is sugar?
Barthes: For me, yes. But that is not the case for everybody. And then you know, there are fads. Take Atkins, for example. He maintains that if you get rid of all sugars, fruits included, you can eat as much as you want of everything else. In reality, it is an ideology that is tailor-made for Americans, in so far as, on the one hand, it frustrates them enormously (they are the people who eat the most sugar): therefore it gives them the energy to struggle over an important point (no more sundaes, no more ice cream, no more Cokes, etc.). On the other hand, the Atkins diet gives Americans an enormous compensation: breakfast! It recurs on every page of Atkins like a kind of description of the golden age: all is not lost because with Atkins, in the morning, you are entitled to eat anything you want, bacon, sausage, eggs, poached, fried, etc.
Playboy: Another compensation: it gives them a guru. Part of the "religious" aspect of dieting.
Barthes: It is better to "add up" diets. And then in the end there is only one system for losing weight: do not eat. Do you know what I spoke about with the administrator of the College de France, during my first visit for candidature? The American statistics on the percentage of successful weight-loss diets. Barely 5 per cent last - the others last a while, then they give up. In the modern world, there is a social dialectic which keeps you from sticking to a diet: if you eat something with someone, you are immediately subjected to the other's attention, which keeps you from respecting your diet in one way or another. I m forced to compensate for my meals in restaurants by eating ascetically when I am at home. A salad. A grilled steak - I don't like meat. But it is the food best suited to keeping you from getting fat.
Playboy: And cheese?
Barthes: I like it enormously. I often have some between meals. I should not but...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2022
Acquired 1998
The Word, Montreal, Quebec
The Word, Montreal, Quebec
May 17, 2008
Less flashy but more useful than "American Mythologies", this is a fine book on semiotics by Roland Barthes' American protege.
Want to Read
August 25, 2008i effluviously covet this book. that isn't how you spell effluviously, i guess. anyway i wonder if i will covet it as much in 2008 or 2009 as i did in 2002.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews