“Mythologies” is a collection of journal articles by Roland Barth , which were originally published on the pages of the periodical press, mainly in the newspaper Les Lettres nouvelles . The first part of this collection contains 53 articles written by Bart in the period from 1954 to 1956, the second part contains the theoretical article “The Myth Today”. “Mythologies” became one of the fundamental works for Cultural Studies [1] [2] .
Content
Mythologies
In his articles, Roland Barth turns to an analysis of the " mythology " of modern society, the consumer society. Bart analyzed the daily life of the petty bourgeoisie, the myths created by the mass media. The myth was considered from a semiological point of view - as a sign system, structure-like natural language. The plots of the articles are built on the principle of “unscrew to debunk”, in order to finally get rid of the power of the stereotype, to return to a real perception of the world. Bart identified two levels of “mythical” meanings and messages: the main meaning ( denotation ) and mythical or ideological ( connotation ). In an advertising message, denotation (“whitens whiter than white”) is supplemented by an unknowable sense of connotation: buying consumer goods is natural and right, they bring happiness and joy. "The function of the myth is to remove reality, things in it literally become bloodless, constantly expiring without a trace of disappearing reality, it feels like its absence." “Mythologies” presented a semiotic program based on formalism and contained the idea of considering any products of human activity as “languages” [3] .
The first full translation of “Mythologies” is provided with a detailed introductory article (“Aesthetics of Myth” - “Dialectics of the Sign” - “Phenomenology of the Body” - “Politics of the Theater”) and comments revealing the “closest chronicle”, “distant cultural” and “author’s” context [ 4] .
Related Articles
Sorting by the number of articles (from the book "Mythology") of one subject:
- Consumption: 8 myths (Defoamers; Operation "Astra"; Toys; "In-depth" advertising; "Blue Guide"; Striptease; New "Citroen"; Plastic)
- Language and literature: 8 myths (Writer on vacation; Writing and procreation; Nautilus and a drunken ship; Adam and language; Racine is Racine; African grammar; Literature in the spirit of Minu Drouet; Criticism of “no-no”)
- Images: 7 myths (Romans in the cinema; Dumb criticism; Poor and proletarian; Martians; Cute worker; Man-shell; Strike and passenger)
- Culture: 6 myths (Two myths of a young theater; Astrology; Bourgeois vocals; In the music hall; “The Lady with the Camellias”; Cruise to the “Bathory”)
- Photography: 5 myths (Actor in portraits of Arkur; Photo-shocks; Pre-election photogeny; Bison among blacks; Great family of people)
- People: 4 myths (Einstein's brain; Iconography of Abbot Pierre; Greta Garbo's face; Cruise to the Bathory)
- Nutrition: 4 myths (Wine and milk; Beefsteak and potatoes; Ornamental cooking; “Blue Guide”)
- Various facts: 4 myths (Dominisi, or the triumph of literature; Billy Graham at the winter velodrome; Dupree process; Marriage chronicle)
- Politics: 3 myths (A few statements by Mr. Pujad; Pujad and intellectuals; Pre-election photogeny)
- Sport: 2 myths (The world where they compete in chum; Tour de France as an epic)
- Miscellaneous: (Cruise of blue blood; There was no flood in Paris; Strength and ease; Lost continent; Dictionary of racers; Reading in hearts)
Myth today
In September 1956, Roland Barth wrote a text entitled " The Myth Today ", which is a generalizing theoretical article for the book "Mythology". In it, he analyzes the phenomenon of the same myth, defining it (in accordance with the etymology) as “myth is a word”, “myth is a communication system, this message”. In this text, Bart explains his vision of the myth. The text is divided into 11 parts:
- Myth as saying
- Myth as a semiological system
- Form and Concept
- Value
- Reading and decoding a myth
- The myth of language abduction
- The bourgeoisie as an anonymous society
- Myth is a depoliticized word.
- The myth of the left
- The myth of the right
- The need for mythology and its limits
Bart’s myth is a tool of ideology; it serves as a conviction; myth is a sign. He suggests that anything can be described as a myth: “So, everything can be a myth?” Yes, I think so, because our world is infinitely suggestive. Any object of this world can pass from a closed-dumb existence to a state of words, open to assimilation by society - after all, no law, neither natural nor otherwise, prohibits us from talking about anything ” [5] . According to Bart, everything can serve as a bearer of a mythical word - not only written discourse, but also photography, cinema, reporting, sports, advertising, etc.
Notes
- ↑ Joseph, 2001 , p. 1893.
- ↑ Culler, 2002 , p. viii.
- ↑ Dosse, 1997 , pp. 74-77.
- ↑ Bart R. Mythology. - M.: Publishing House M. and S. Sabashnikovs , 2004.
- ↑ Bart R. Mythology. - M.: Publishing House M. and S. Sabashnikovs , 2004 .-- S. 234.
Literature
- Culler, Jonathan. Barthes: A Very Short Introduction. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 .-- ISBN 0192801597 .
- Dosse, François. History of Structuralism. Volume I: The Rising Sign, 1945-1966. - L., Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997 .-- ISBN 0-8166-2239-6 .
- Joseph, John E. The Exportation of Structuralist Ideas from Linguistics to Other Fields: An Overview // History of the Language Sciences: An International Handbook on the Evolution of the Study of Language from the Beginnings to the Present / S. Auroux, EFK Koerner , H.-J. Niederehe, K. Versteegh (eds.). - Berlin, NY: Walter de Gruyter, 2001 .-- Vol. 2. - P. 1880-1908.