The Rustle of Language

“In the 20th century, the French essayic mind may have tunneled to its deepest riches in the works of the late Roland Barthes.” —Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“Barthes ... was one of the leading philosophical linguists of our time.... The book should prove an excitement for students of language.” —Publishers Weekly

“Barthes' career was an exemplary search for understanding how man creates meaning.... This has been a characteristic preoccupation of our age, and no one addressed himself to it so persistently, so multifariously, so ingeniously, as Barthes.” —Peter Brooks, The New Republic

“Teacher, man of letters, moralist, philospher of culture, connoisseur of strong ideas, protean autobiographer . . . of all the intellectual notables who have emerged since World War II in France, Roland Barthes is the one whose work I am most certain will endure” —Susan Sontag