The Rustle of Language

The Rustle of Language is a collection of forty-five essays, written between 1967 and 1980, on language, literature, and teaching—the pleasure of the text—in an authoritative translation by Richard Howard.

The Rustle of Language is a collection of forty-five essays, written between 1967 and 1980, on language, literature, and teaching—the pleasure of the text—in an authoritative translation by Richard Howard.

Publishers Weekly

Barthes (19151980), a disciple of structuralist Claude Levi-Strauss and author of Empire of Signs, The Responsibility of Forms, etc., was one of the leading philosophical linguists of our time. This collection of essays, which deals with the scientific study of signs and symbols, of literary language in general and of the points where scientific and literary language diverge, also offers speculations on science, history, art and authors such as Balzac, Flaubert and Gide, and insists throughout on the writer's subjectivity (``literature follows the hand''). The book should prove an excitement for students of language. The general reader, however, is likely to have difficulty with such concepts as ``language-objects,'' ``speech-act'' and ``limit-noise,'' or understanding how ``The rustle of language forms . . . the utopia of music's meaning,'' and so may have trouble keeping up with the subtle and fiery rush of Barthes's thoughts. (March)

Roland Barthes was born in 1915 and studied French literature and classics at the University of Paris. After teaching French at universities in Rumania and Egypt, he joined the Centre de Recherche Scientifique, where he devoted himself to research in sociology and lexicology. He was a professor at the Collège de France until his death in 1980.