Roland Barthes was one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, but why should the reader of today, or tomorrow, be concerned with him? Martin McQuillan provides a fresh perspective on Barthes, addressing his political and institutional inheritance and considering his work as the origins of a critical cultural studies.
This stimulating study:
- Provides a biographical consideration of Barthes' writing
- Offers an extended reading of his 1957 text Mythologies as a text for our own time, drawing Barthes' work into a historical relation to the present
- Examines his connection to what we call cultural studies
- Features an annotated bibliography of Barthes' published work
Thought-provoking and insightful, Roland Barthes is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the writings of this key theorist and his continuing relevance in our post-9/11 world.

MARTIN MCQUILLAN is Professor of Literary Theory and Cultural Analysis and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, UK.

General Editor's Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Roland Barthes, About this Book
R.B. Bio-Bibliography
Reading Roland Barthes in a Time of Terror
An Answer to the Question: What is Cultural Studies?
Notes
Annotated Bibliography
Further Reading
Index.