Image-Music-Text Paperback – July 1, 1978

Like so much of this author's work, I profit from it although I don't accept his premises. The writing is very hifalutin and abstract. It's not easy to figure out his meaning with all the abstract terms. Still he makes some great points.He uses a term - censorship through repletion - that I have never encountered elsewhere. I understand this to mean that there is so much worthless discourse that information has no audience. I find this an apt term for present US media. Our world is falling apart and the news is about Game of Thrones. The sea is rising and we worry about whether a favorite TV show will be canceled or which new toy is better, the a-phone or the b-phone.I prefer reading old books to new. Somehow Barthes seems like an old-timer in this equation. He's part of the tradition of making real points although he's not that ancient.

Heath selected well for this volume, the essays flow well into one another and it proves to be quick reading."Ethnocentric" in the other review is laughable. Suppose it's not ethnocentric as long as one is biased for others, so long as it be against oneself. Cultural Marxists ought to be too busy putting their efforts against the State to have time to indulge in these sorts of things, ah, but they're far too busy earning tenure at a federally funded university to take note; they have had their sabbatical request approved by the Women's Studies department and are off to write that big diatribe against Religion and Intolerance and Poverty they've always dreamed of ever since they were a little fetus. So much invective, so little time!

Roland Barthes is a great writer, the various essays are concise, technical but without leaving the less technical reader lost. There is actually a lot to enjoy and I find as an artist Barthes insights inspire me to think about images in new ways while also giving insight into other arts like music and text. I would like to read more by Barthes in the future.

It's Barthes. What more can I say? "The Grain of the Voice" is an especially interesting essay. If you liked "Mythologies," you will probably like this too.

i bought this book as part of classic textbooks in semiotics studies. thin book, but basic ideas of semiotics, linguistics, and literature critique theories, by barthes.

Barthes is mystifying, often verbose, often not exactly clear. Read it at your own risk. Not sure why he is such a big deal.

Image Music and Text is a classic on text linguistics and should be in the library of every musician, writer, and linguist.

Barthes manner of explanation is personal and didactic - he was dedicated to the essay form and I enjoy returning to each of them.

terrible reproduction I assume a pirate edition no legitimate publisher would put this out.

None.