{"product_id":"criticism-and-truth-by-roland-barthes","title":"'Criticism and Truth' by Roland Barthes","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"40\" data-end=\"481\"\u003eWritten in response to the quarrel around Barthes’ \u003cem data-start=\"91\" data-end=\"102\"\u003eOn Racine\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem data-start=\"104\" data-end=\"123\"\u003eCriticism \u0026amp; Truth\u003c\/em\u003e is one of those short theoretical detonations where the argument is much larger than the page count.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"40\" data-end=\"481\"\u003eBarthes is taking aim at the old guard of literary criticism and the idea that a text has one proper meaning, that the critic’s job is to recover it politely, and that “good taste” is somehow neutral rather than a little velvet glove over institutional power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"483\" data-end=\"968\"\u003eHonestly, the book functions as a fight over who gets to speak about literature, and by what rules. Barthes argues for criticism as a language in its own right: not parasitic on the work, not merely explanatory, but creative, interpretive, unstable, and historically situated. It is very much Barthes in battle mode — elegant, compressed, slightly lethal — making the case that meaning is not a buried coin waiting to be found, but a field of relations activated by reading.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"483\" data-end=\"968\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst UK edition hardback, published by The Athlone Press in 1987; translated and edited by Katrine Pilcher Keuneman, with a foreword by Philip Thody. Good second-hand condition overall, with visible rubbing\/scuffing to the black boards and light handling wear; internally clean and sound.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45617005723731,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/thebowerbooker_7.png?v=1780899434","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/criticism-and-truth-by-roland-barthes","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}